Kim Kardashian often showed her loyalty to her estranged husband, Kanye West.
Last year, the high-profile couple split up after Kardashian filed for divorce. They had four children together throughout their six-year marriage- North, Saint, Chicago, and Psalm West.
West also had several disputes with other artists, countless Twitter rants, and presidential candidacy during their relationship.
Kardashian opted to stick by her husband’s side amid his controversial moments. Take a look back at some of the times she defended the Donda rapper publicly.
6. Kim Kardashian said Kanye West ‘has the best heart’ after he supported Donald Trump
In 2018, West tweeted his support of former President Donald Trump. While wearing a “Make America Great Again (MAGA)” hat, he also called for the abolition of the 13th amendment. His tweets came after Kardashian began her journey into prison reform and helped former prisoner Alice Johnson earn clemency.
After West received backlash for his tweets about Trump, the SKIMS founder defended her husband in an interview with her friend, Van Jones. Kardashian said the social media commenters don’t understand how her husband’s mind works during their discussion.
“Look, I always say this: It takes him about four years to write a song to communicate what he wants to say,” she said on an episode of The Messy Truth. “So when he tweets something in two seconds — what’s going on in his mind, and what he thinks and what he’s trying to say — he might not be the best communicator, but he has the best heart, and I know what he means.”
Kardashian added, “I believe in him, and I believe that his message of what the [Make America Great Again] hat represents to him is maybe different [than] what it represents to other people. He is very mindful about that…. Maybe [he] doesn’t express that. But what it means to him is something totally different, and I trust in him that he will explain that in his own way.”
5. Kim Kardashian addressed ‘judgemental’ people who discuss Ye’s mental health
West was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2016. Since then, the All of the Lights rapper has been vocal about how the diagnosis affected his life and work. While speaking to David Letterman on My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, West admitted he experiences being “hyper-paranoid” at times.
In June 2020, Ye hosted a campaign rally and discussed a moment in Kardashian’s marriage. During the rant, he stated that he “saved” his daughter, North West’s life in 2012.
At the time, Kardashian found out she was pregnant with North, and the couple considered having an abortion. West then criticized his wife’s mother, Kris Jenner, and stated he wanted a divorce after she began working with Meek Mill on prison reform.
Following West’s remarks, Kardashian took to Instagram to address her husband’s actions. In the lengthy statement, she asked critics to give him and their family “compassion and support” as they continue navigating his mental health.
“People who are unaware or far removed from this experience can be judgmental and not understand that the individual themselves have to engage in the process of getting help no matter how hard family and friends try,” Kardashian wrote at the time, noting West is a “brilliant but complicated” man.
“Living with bipolar disorder does not diminish or invalidate his dreams and creative ideas, no matter how big or unobtainable they may feel to some,” she continued. “That is part of his genius, and as we have all witnessed, many of his big dreams have come true.”
4. Kardashian rushed to Twitter after West’s Surviving R. Kelly comments
West made headlines once again after he discussed R. Kelly and Michael Jackson. In 2019, Kelly and Jackson were the documentaries that accused them of sexually assaulting underage girls and boys.
Shortly after Kelly’s doc, Surviving R. Kelly, West briefly shared his thoughts on the matter at his Sunday Service. The rapper stated that, despite the allegations, music lovers could still enjoy the singers’ artistic contributions. West then received several comments for his opinion.
In January 2019, Kardashian stated that West’s Sunday Service comments didn’t affect how he felt about Jackson and Kelly’s allegations. According to the SKIMS founder, West spoke in “context to his own experiences.”
“I’m going to nip this in the bud right now,” Kardashian tweeted. “Kanye was speaking about his own experience of everyone quick to say they are canceling him because of differences in opinion & not being perfect. The analogies were in context to his own experiences, not defending anyone else.”
3. Kim Kardashian responded to claims Kanye West always dresses her on KUWTK
When Kardashian and West began dating, several Keeping Up With the Kardashians fans noticed a change in her wardrobe. During one episode, Ye raided his then girlfriend’s closet and had her discard most of the items. However, his fashion choices for Kardashian didn’t always resonate well with style lovers.
In 2013, for the KKW Beauty founder’s first Met Gala, she wore a floral print Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci dress to accompany West. Kardashian’s look became the subject of several memes, and Robin Williams compared it to his character, Mrs. Doubtfire.
Although she later admitted that she “cried the whole way home” after seeing the comments, Kardashian didn’t blame West for the fashion faux pas. In a 2013 episode of KUWTK, she shared how she feels about Ye getting reproached for her looks.
“It just really sucks when you’re on the worst-dressed list,” she said on the show, per Us Weekly. “People think that Kanye actually has time to dress me every single day. I feel bad that Kanye gets this bad rap for always dressing me.”
2. Taylor Swift vs. Kim Kardashian and Kanye West
In 2016, Kardashian defended West against his longtime nemesis, Taylor Swift. After their 2009 MTV VMAS scandal, the two artists have shared their opinions on the night through music. When Ye started working on his 2016 song, Famous, he wanted to poke fun at the drama by rapping, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? / I made that b**ch famous.”
According to Swift, she never gave West permission to use the lyric. However, Kardashian recorded three minutes of their conversation and posted it on Snapchat. The reality star later told GQ that Swift knew exactly what West would say before releasing Famous.
“She totally approved that,” said. “She totally knew that that was coming out. She wanted to all of a sudden act like she didn’t. I swear, my husband gets so much s–t for things [when] he really was doing proper protocol and even called to get it approved. What rapper would call a girl that he was rapping a line about to get approval?”
In March 2020, Swift reignited her feud with the Wests after their entire conversation resurfaced. The discussion indicated that the Bad Blood singer didn’t know Ye planned on calling her a “b**ch” in the song. Following the recording’s release, Kardashian tweeted that Swift was “self-serving” for discussing the feud amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
1. Kim Kardashian said she will always be West’s ‘biggest fan’
After West’s 2020 campaign rally, rumors swirled that he and Kardashian were headed for divorce. Last February, she officially filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. On the final season of KUWTK, Kardashian said she admitted she felt like a “failure” for not being the wife West desired.
During the show’s reunion, the future lawyer didn’t detail what led to their split. However, she said she and West had an “amazing co-parenting relationship” and will always support each other because of their kids.
“I respect him so much,” Kardashian said. “I will forever be Kanye’s biggest fan. He’s the father of my kids. Kanye will always be family.”
Although the divorce seemed cordial, the relationship reportedly changed when the KKW Fragrance founder started dating Pete Davidson. West publicly begged Kardashian to “run back” to him in December. However, the rapper, dating Julia Fox, also made several allegations about his wife’s parenting skills in interviews.