A Timeline Of The Ups And Downs Of Kim Kardashian And Kanye West's Relationship

When Kim Kardashian and Kayne West met in the early 2000s, it definitely wasn't love at first sight. In fact, West didn't even know who Kardashian was. "I met him I think in 2002 or 2003," the reality TV star told Ryan Seacrest during the Keeping Up With the Kardashians 10th-anniversary special, per Us Weekly. "He was recording a song with Brandy, and I was her friend. I vividly remember hanging out with him, and then they did a video together, so I'd see him a few times. He was asking his friends: 'Who is this Kim Kardajan?' He didn't know what my name was."

To be fair, West was more famous than Kardashian at the time. But, if you're thinking, "Sure, but Kim Kardashian was already pretty darn famous, and her star power was rising quickly at that point," you're right, but, well, claiming not to know who someone is such a Kanye West move to pull, right? 

In 2011, Kim Kardashian married NBA player Kris Humphries—but the couple famously divorced just 72 days later, paving the way for her and Kanye West's future romance. "Right before I got married to Kris Humphries, [Kanye and I] were talking and I just went a different direction. I think I had to go through that to figure out what I wanted," Kardashian explained during the Keeping Up With the Kardashians 10th-anniversary special (via Cosmopolitan). 

"After my breakup, I was feeling really low and down and he said, 'Just come to Paris and see my fashion show.' He jokes that he put on this whole fashion show just to get a date with me. I went and I stayed with him, and that's where we started dating. I swear from the moment I landed and was there, I fell madly in love with him and I thought, 'Oh my god, why didn't I do this sooner?' This is what real life is like and love and fun and real support." We're not crying, you're crying.

In 2012, Kanye West started making appearances on Kim Kardashian's reality show Keeping Up With the Kardashians. In one of the rapper's most memorable early appearances, he gave Kardashian's closet a makeover. In 2018, she reflected on the closet clear out during the BoF West Summit (via Elle), "I always thought I had really good style until I met my husband and he told me that I had the worst style. He was really nice about it and cleaned out my whole closet."

The process might have seemed harsh from the outside looking in, but Kardashian insists it was really a positive experience overall. "I probably had 250 pairs of shoes and when we were done cleaning it out, I had two pairs left and I cried," she admitted, adding, "There were racks of clothes of designers I have never heard of before like Lanvin and Givenchy. I didn't know that then. I kept everything because it was really sentimental to me. I wanted to learn. I wasn't offended when he said that. When he did that he wanted to teach me."

These days, Kim Kardashian is a staple at high-profile, fashion-forward events, but in the earlier days of her career, that wasn't always the case. Her relationship with Kanye West actually helped open some new doors for the reality star, like in May 2013, when she attended the prestigious Met Gala in New York City for the first time ever as her beau's guest. 

Kardashian wore a long-sleeved, high-necked floral print gown for the occasion. Years later, she tweeted about the event, admitting that she was so vulnerable she broke down in tears after the event. "Year 1- 2013 Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy," she tweeted in 2019 of the event and the gown she wore for the occasion. "I was Kanye's plus one & so nervous! I didn't know anyone & I'm sure no one wanted me there lol. I did my own lipstick & the color is so off. I went home & cried after of insecurity but this is one of my fave looks now."

In October 2013, just four months after North was born, Kanye West proposed to Kim Kardashian in a huge display in front of family and friends at San Francisco Giants baseball stadium, AT&T Park. After luring Kardashian to the park, West put his proposal in writing. "He projected please marry me onto the stadium screen for everyone to see," a source told Us Weekly of the proposal at the time. 

West popped the question with an insanely gorgeous, 15-carat diamond engagement ring that reportedly cost $8 million, according to Brides.com, which added that "jewelry designer Lorraine Schwartz described the D flawless type 2A rock as the 'perfect cushion-cut diamond.'" In 2016, West upgraded his wife with a second, even blingier engagement ring, but the 20-carat emerald-cut piece was, sadly, stolen during Kardashian's Paris robbery in 2016. 

Kardashian and West had been the subject of marriage rumors long before their spectacular engagement. In a February 2013 interview with Cosmopolitan, the starlet revealed, "[Marriage] is something I know that we both want in our future, but I don't have this sense of urgency about it. I have this best friend who understands me and helps me through all my tough experiences, and vice versa, you know? It just feels like this is it for me."

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West have always known that they wanted to have a large family, but growing their brood wasn't easy. In 2015, the starlet opened up to Glamour about the challenges she faced conceiving her second child and the serious health risks that pregnancy has meant for her. 

"I didn't know that I was going to be so open with [my fertility challenges]. But meeting people at my fertility doctor's office who are going through the same things I'm going through, I thought, why not share my story?" Kardashian explained. "It's been really emotional. One doctor told me I would need my uterus removed after I had another baby — I could only have one more. One was like, 'You should get a surrogate.' The other one was like, 'Oh, no, you'll be fine.' Then I called my doctor, and he's like, 'You know what? I believe — we'll get through it.'" Musing, the Skims owner added, "The waiting and waiting has been a roller coaster."

Eventually, Kardashian and West welcomed their two younger children, Chicago and Psalm, via surrogates.

In the big picture sense, there was nothing positive about the drama between Kanye West and Taylor Swift. But, as a moment in Kim Kardashian and West's relationship, it has to count as an up, not a down. In her Grammy acceptance speech in 2016, Swift made a low-key reference to West's song, "Famous," which included the now-infamous lyric, "I feel like me and Taylor still might have sex / Why? I made that b*tch famous." As Swift declared, "I want to say to all the young women out there, there are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame." There's no denying that the words were a reference to the controversial track. 

Kardashian came to her husband's defense in a big, game-changing way when she leaked video footage of West and Swift's phone call about the song on Snapchat. The move started a movement against the songstress on Twitter, forever changed the meaning of the snake emoji, and took the pop star and rapper's feud to another level. Still, it came from a place of wanting to protect a loved one on Kardashian's part.

So, what did West have to say about Kardashian exposing Swift? "I am so glad my wife has Snapchat," the rapper smugly declared during a surprise appearance at a Drake concert in Chicago (via TMZ).

In December 2016, following his hospitalization, Kanye West famously met with then-President-elect Donald Trump. Kim Kardashian later admitted that Kanye's decision to wear a red "Make America Great Again" hat used to drive her crazy, but that she eventually adapted to it. 

"He doesn't represent either side," she insisted in an interview with Vogue in 2019. "But he doesn't want to be told what he should be. It can be confusing. I get it. The one thing that I respect so much is that he is who he is, no matter what anyone tries to tell him to do. I can be sitting there crying: OH, MY GOD! TAKE OFF THE RED HAT! Because he really is the sweetest person with the biggest heart. I stopped caring, though. Because I used to care so much. I was making it such an issue in our relationship. And in my life. It gave me so much anxiety."

Kardashian later met with Trump herself in 2018, to advocate for prison and sentencing reform. "I would like to thank President Trump for his time this afternoon," she said in a statement (via Us Weekly). "It is our hope that the President will grant clemency to Ms. Alice Marie Johnson who is serving a life sentence for a first-time, non-violent drug offense. We are optimistic about Ms. Johnson's future and hopeful that she — and so many like her — will get a second chance at life."

In July 2020, Kanye West announced his intention to run for president in the upcoming election, a move many assumed was the result of his struggles with bipolar disorder. At a campaign rally in South Carolina, he delivered a shocking speech in which he described urging his now-wife Kim Kardashian to have an abortion when she was pregnant with their first child, North. "Cause I was having, like, you know, the rapper's lifestyle, so she said she was pregnant and for one month and two months and three months we talked about her not having this child. She had the pills in her hand," he said (per Us Weekly), adding, "She brought North into the world even when I didn't want to. She stood up and she protected that child." The rapper tearfully added, "I almost killed my daughter."

Although multiple outlets reported that sources said Kim was upset by the speech, the reality star stayed silent directly following the incident. In a now-deleted Twitter rant, West claimed that Kardashian tried to have a doctor "lock [him] up" over the comments he made at the rally.

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's relationship took another turn five days into 2021. That's when Page Six published a bombshell report, citing multiple sources who claim the couple's "divorce is imminent" and that Kardashian has hired a famed Hollywood divorce attorney. "They are keeping it low-key but they are done," a source said. "Kim has hired Laura Wasser and they are in settlement talks."

The report states that Kardashian hasn't been "wearing her wedding ring" and that West has been living at their property in Wyoming, which was supposed to get them away from the limelight and repair their relationship, but ended up just fracturing them more. Spoiler: Kanye's behavior hasn't helped their cause either, with TMZ additionally reporting "the marriage was in deep trouble for the last half of 2020." The outlet further claimed that the couple has "been in counseling for a while," but it doesn't seem to be working.

Sources told Page Six that settlement talks are already ongoing, and they are currently fighting on who gets to stay in their Calabasas, Calif. mansion, with Kardashian citing the couples' kids' stability as her claim to the abode. "She owns all the land and adjoining lots around the house but Kanye owns the actual house," a source told the tab, adding, "They've both put a lot of money into renovating it." As of this writing, no official statements about the split rumors have been made from either star's camp.