Every Time Kim Kardashian Has Publicly Defended Kanye West: From Taylor Swift to His Political Statements

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Every Time Kim Kardashian Has Publicly Defended Kanye West: From Taylor Swift to His Political Statements

United front. Kim Kardashian always has Kanye West’s back … no matter what kind of trouble he gets himself into. The Keeping Up With the Kardashians star and West wed in 2014 and share four children — daughters North and Chicago and sons Saint and Psalm — and one said they are bonded for life. "We've been through a lot together, you know," the Skims founder told Van Jones during an October 2018 episode of The Messy Truth. "I've known him for 15 years now. Became friends with him maybe in like 2006 [or] 2007, met him in like 2002 or 2003. I've known him forever.” The mother of four admitted that the “Jesus Walks’ singer “put himself up against the world” for her when they started dating, after she did a sex tape and was on a reality show. People told him that “it's going to ruin your career,” if he was with her and he didn’t listen, she explained. “Everyone told him that. And to me, he was like, 'You're not going to tell me what to do. I'll let you know it's going to be OK.' He was always that strength for me,” Kardashian concluded. “So I'll always love and appreciate him for always standing up for me." She added, "Anyone who has ever doubted us or me, he has always been there to hold my hand and lift me up higher and give me the confidence. So I'll always do the same for him." [jwplayer xVHRPFMY-l3ahXupL] In 2016, the KKW Beauty founder was quick to defend the father of her children when he released “Famous,” and Taylor Swift claimed that she did not sign off on the lyric, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? / I made that bitch famous.” “She totally knew that that was coming out,” the California native told GQ at the time. “She wanted to all of a sudden act like she didn’t.” The TV personality said in March 2020 that the “Lover” singer was “lying” about the 2016 phone call, after the full recording of the conversation between Swift and West was released, indicating that Swift didn’t know about the final lyrics of the song. Kardashian has also taken to social media to clear up his rants about politics over the years and called out artists who’ve come at him, including Drake, in the past. Us Weekly reported in January 2021 that Kardashian was “done” with her marriage to West and preparing to officially end things. “They have both been living separate lives for many months now,” a source told Us at the time. “Kim and Kanye haven’t been on the same page for a while now.” She then filed for divorce in February 2021. Scroll down to relive all of Kardashian’s public displays of support for West throughout their relationship. [podcast_block]

Credit: Broadimage/Shutterstock

Every Time Kim Kardashian Has Publicly Defended Kanye West: From Taylor Swift to His Political Statements

United front. Kim Kardashian always has Kanye West’s back … no matter what kind of trouble he gets himself into. The Keeping Up With the Kardashians star and West wed in 2014 and share four children — daughters North and Chicago and sons Saint and Psalm — and one said they are bonded for life. "We've been through a lot together, you know," the Skims founder told Van Jones during an October 2018 episode of The Messy Truth. "I've known him for 15 years now. Became friends with him maybe in like 2006 [or] 2007, met him in like 2002 or 2003. I've known him forever.” The mother of four admitted that the “Jesus Walks’ singer “put himself up against the world” for her when they started dating, after she did a sex tape and was on a reality show. People told him that “it's going to ruin your career,” if he was with her and he didn’t listen, she explained. “Everyone told him that. And to me, he was like, 'You're not going to tell me what to do. I'll let you know it's going to be OK.' He was always that strength for me,” Kardashian concluded. “So I'll always love and appreciate him for always standing up for me." She added, "Anyone who has ever doubted us or me, he has always been there to hold my hand and lift me up higher and give me the confidence. So I'll always do the same for him." [jwplayer xVHRPFMY-l3ahXupL] In 2016, the KKW Beauty founder was quick to defend the father of her children when he released “Famous,” and Taylor Swift claimed that she did not sign off on the lyric, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? / I made that bitch famous.” “She totally knew that that was coming out,” the California native told GQ at the time. “She wanted to all of a sudden act like she didn’t.” The TV personality said in March 2020 that the “Lover” singer was “lying” about the 2016 phone call, after the full recording of the conversation between Swift and West was released, indicating that Swift didn’t know about the final lyrics of the song. Kardashian has also taken to social media to clear up his rants about politics over the years and called out artists who’ve come at him, including Drake, in the past. Us Weekly reported in January 2021 that Kardashian was “done” with her marriage to West and preparing to officially end things. “They have both been living separate lives for many months now,” a source told Us at the time. “Kim and Kanye haven’t been on the same page for a while now.” She then filed for divorce in February 2021. Scroll down to relive all of Kardashian’s public displays of support for West throughout their relationship. [podcast_block]

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Kanye’s Mental Health

After West announced his plans to run for president in July 2020, he hosted a campaign rally and made several controversial statements about abortion, including that he and Kardashian discussed ending her first pregnancy before they wed in 2014. After his remarks made headlines, West took to Twitter and alleged Kardashian tried to “lock” him up for his comments. The Selfish author subsequently released a statement via Instagram.

“I feel like I should comment on it because of the stigma and misconceptions about mental health. Those that understand mental illness or even compulsive behavior know that the family is powerless unless the member is a minor. 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. That is part of his genius and as we have all witnessed, many of his big dreams have come true.”

Kardashian concluded her message by asking for “compassion and empathy” for West and thanking fans for their support.

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Taylor Swift Round 2

On March 23, 2020, Kardashian reignited the feud between herself, Swift and West after the full recorded photo call regarding his song “Famous” was leaked and indicated that Swift wasn’t lying in the past about not giving permission for the rapper to use “bitch” in reference to her in his lyrics. “@taylorswift13 has chosen to reignite an old exchange — that at this point in time feels very self-serving given the suffering millions of real victims are facing right now,” Kardashian wrote via Twitter, referencing the coronavirus pandemic.

“I didn’t feel the need to comment a few days ago, and I’m actually really embarrassed and mortified to be doing it right now, but because she continues to speak on it, I feel I’m left without a choice but to respond because she is actually lying,” she continued.

Kardashian concluded: “Kanye has documented the making of all of his albums of his personal archive, however has never released any of it for public consumption & the call between the two of them would have remained private or would have gone in the trash had she not lied & forced me to defend him.”

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Musical Mix Up

In January 2019, the TV personality took to Twitter to defend West after he made remarks during one of his Sunday services that were perceived to mean he was encouraging people to listen to R. Kelly and Michael Jackson music despite sexual misconduct allegations against them.

“I’m going to nip this in the bud right now,” Kardashian tweeted on January 14, 2019, shortly after the Lifetime documentary Surviving R. Kelly aired. “Kanye was speaking about his own experience of everyone quick to say they are cancelling him because of differences in opinion & not being perfect. The analogies were in context to his own experiences, not defending anyone else.” She added: “I want to make it very clear, he is not condoning anyone’s actions or unacceptable disgusting behavior. My husband’s words are being taken out of context due to timing.”

West didn’t directly name R. Kelly, but he did say, “Everybody they want the art from the artist, but anytime they do anything erratic, they just gonna pull up full documentaries on him, and then they gonna come with the Michael documentary. We can enjoy all their music all we want.” He added: "I thought I wasn't gonna go there today. If we're gonna tear down artists, let's go ahead and take [Leonardo] da Vinci out of the Louvre. Let's take down all the art."

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Drake Drama

During a Twitter rant about the “God’s Plan” singer in December 2018, West claimed that Drake had threatened him. A few hours later Kardashian had his back. “@Drake never threaten my husband or our family,” she tweeted. “He paved the way for there to be a Drake.”

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Phone Faux Pas

The musician received backlash after he was caught on his phone while watching Broadway’s The Cher Show on December 3, 2018. Although Kardashian didn’t condone his actions, she did try to explain why he was looking down at his cell in the first place. “He felt like s—t honestly,” the businesswoman told E! News after the incident. “But he was actually taking notes because he loved the production of the show so much.” West did, however, apologize for his lack of attention and according to Kardashian it was his own choice. “He was the one that said right away, ‘Oh my God, I’m gonna tweet. I just need to apologize,’” she explained.

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Plane Problems

Fans fired back at Kardashian and West after the two flew on a private 747 plane together to Japan. Some fans criticized the duo for not caring about the environment and being wasteful. “It was the nicest plane I’ve ever been on,” the California native told Extra in December 2018 of the experience. She then explained that the reason he chose to take the expensive plane was that “he’s really into architecture.” “So we flew to this island off of Japan to see this museum,” Kardashian continued. “He wanted to take his whole design crew and stuff to have his whole team get inspiration.”

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Politically Charged

"Look, I always say this: It takes him about four years to write a song to communicate what he wants to say,” Kardashian told Van Jones on The Messy Truth in October 2018 about West's Twitter rants and his support of President Donald Trump. “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.”

She continued: "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."

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Charity Confrontation

Not so fast! After Rhymefest claimed that West abandoned Chicago’s youth and refused to fund the nonprofit Donda’s House, which was started in 2016 and named after West's late mom. At the time he asked that people “boycott and protest” the rapper since he allegedly didn’t give any financial support. According to Kardashian, however, that was not the full story. “U haven’t been right since u got kick out of the studio in Hawaii wearing fake Yeezy’s @RHYMEFEST,” she began her Twitter rebuttal on May 26, 2018. “You’re over leveraging Kanye’s name & asked Kanye to donate money to u so stop with your fake community politics & lies. Truth is you haven’t been able to sustain the foundation.”

“You have the audacity to use Kanye’s mom name to try and shed a negative light on Kanye,” she continued. “You didn’t say this when Kanye paid you up front then you disappeared during Pablo #RealFriends.”

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Freedom of Speech

After social media and the media criticized West’s Twitter rant and unusual behavoir in April 2018, Kardashian had his back. “To the media trying to demonize my husband let me just say this…your commentary on Kanye being erratic & his tweets being disturbing is actually scary,” the KKW Beauty founder tweeted at the time. “So quick to label him as having mental health issues for just being himself when he has always been expressive is not fair.” She added: “He’s a free thinker, is that not allowed in America? Because some of his ideas differ from yours you have to throw in the mental health card? That’s just not fair.”

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Trump Triumph

Following the “I Love It” rapper’s Twitter rampage in April 2018, where he called Donald Trump his “brother” and said they have a shared “dragon energy,” Kardashian tried to clarify his comments via Twitter. “Now when he spoke out about Trump…Most people (including myself) have very different feelings & opinions about this. But this is HIS opinion,” she tweeted.

“I believe in people being able to have their own opinions, even if really different from mine,” she continued. “He never said he agrees with his politics Kanye will never run in the race of popular opinion and we know that and that’s why I love him and respect him and in a few years when someone else says the same exact thing but they aren’t labeled the way he is and you will all praise them! Kanye is years ahead of his time.”

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Taylor Swift vs. Kanye West

After West's song “Famous” was released in 2016, with the lyrics, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? / I made that bitch famous,” Swift claimed she did not give consent for the rapper to say those things about her. The reality TV star came to West's aid and told GQ that he and Swift spoke beforehand and that “she totally approved that.”

“She totally knew that that was coming out. She wanted to all of a sudden act like she didn’t,” Kardashian told the publication. “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?”

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Wheelchair Whoopsie

In September 2014, Kardashian again came to West's aid when his actions at an Australian concert caused controversy. According to some outlets, the “Yeezus” rapper asked all of his fans to stand up during a Sydney show. He said, “I can’t do this song, I can’t do the rest of this show until everybody stands up,” the Los Angeles Times reported. “Unless you got a handicapped pass with special parking.” There were reportedly a few people who didn’t stand, prompting West to tell someone, “Now, if he is in a wheelchair, then it’s fine,” which one person was. Another woman with a prosthetic leg also reportedly got a pass.

“Kanye never asked anyone in a wheel chair to stand up & the audience videos show that,” Kardashian tweeted at the time in response. “He asked for everyone to stand up & dance UNLESS they were in a wheel chair. #JustWantedEveryoneToHaveAFunNight #TheMediaTwistsThings.”

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Dressing Disses

During a 2013 episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, the media maven revealed that she felt a lot of “pressure” after being slammed for her wardrobe choices. What upset her even more was that people blamed West for her fashion failures. “It just really sucks when you’re on the worst-dressed list,” she said on the show. “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.”