Kim Kardashian has reflected on how her relationship with Kanye West profoundly influenced her life.
In an excerpt from Jonathan Van Meter’s upcoming book, Citizen Kim: The Woman Who Created the Future, published by The Cut ahead of its October 27 release, Kardashian discussed how Ye recognized the potential in their relationship and in his music.
“I realize that he loves, like, a project, right?” Kardashian told Van Meter. “I think he really fell in love with the idea of me, and the project behind it all. He loves things that maybe aren’t cool and ‘I’m going to make them cool.’ Whether it’s, like, ‘I’m going to stop rapping and do a whole singing album, like 808s \[& Heartbreak\].’ And everyone’s like, ‘How could you not rap? It’s blasphemy!’ And then it’s the best album.”
She added: “I think he’s like, ‘Let me be with a reality star. No one respects it. I’m going to show you how cool it is.’ He changed my life. He absolutely changed my life.”
Kardashian and Ye began dating in April 2012 and married two years later.
In the book excerpt, Van Meter describes how, early in their relationship, Kanye West sent a team of stylists to overhaul Kardashian’s closet. They cleared out her clothes, leaving shoes stacked to the ceiling, and filled her wardrobe with designer labels such as Givenchy, Tom Ford, and Lanvin.
“I just didn’t know anything about high fashion. There were all these fashion books piled up. It was time to get to work and learn,” Kardashian told the author. “He gave me so much confidence.”
Ye also worked to establish her standing in the fashion world, calling Anna Wintour to get Kardashian a plus-one invitation to the 2013 Met Gala and advocating for her Vogue cover. Her friend Tracy Romulus noted that “he fought for Kim’s place there.”
The former couple have four children together: North, 13, Saint, 10, Chicago, eight, and seven-year-old Psalm.
Kardashian filed for divorce from Ye in 2021, and their divorce was finalized in November 2022.
