Kim Kardashian has described the negative feelings she experienced for years in her marriage, saying she felt responsible for protecting and covering up for her ex-husband, Kanye West, during his public outbursts.
But that continued until one of their four children witnessed his behavior. “I was able to hide it for a long time,” the 45-year-old reality show personality said on an episode of season 7 of the reality show “The Kardashians.” “I always felt like I had a little bit of Stockholm syndrome, I felt really bad and I always protected him, I always wanted to help him,” she explained.
Stockholm syndrome, according to the Cleveland Clinic, is a form of traumatic bonding in which the victim develops sympathy or positive feelings toward her abuser. However, as she explains, one specific incident changed her perspective: “It was the first time I didn’t feel this responsibility personally.”
Responding to those who believe she has the “luxury of walking away” from the rapper without consequences, the businesswoman was clear: “That’s not my reality. This man is the father of my four children.”
The TV personality also revealed that she suffers from a flare-up of psoriasis whenever she’s stressed. “My kids are involved right now. I don’t have a coping mechanism. I just focus on protecting them,” she said. “They’re going to learn things, they’re going to grow up, they’re going to see. My job as a mother is, when this behavior happens, to make sure they’re protected,” Kardashian continued.
She also admitted that Kanye West has been “a little too quiet” lately, noting that he hasn’t been seen in public since August and hasn’t posted anything on social media since September. Referring to her ex-husband’s accusations that she is keeping him away from their children, Kim Kardashian responded curtly: “It’s a divorce, not an abduction. We’re not leaving. We’re in the same place, at the same address. He knows where his kids are.”
She also recalled that the rapper had bought a house near them so they could more easily work together to raise them. “What happened with the house Kanye bought near you, we were expecting to take the kids to school together. Obviously, that’s not what he wanted,” she concluded. Kim Kardashian and Kanye West married in 2014 and finalized their divorce in 2022.