Kim Kardashian Praises Kanye West's Yeezy Designs Despite Claiming She Had To 'Save' Herself

In a moment that perfectly encapsulates the complexity of post-divorce co-parenting, Kim Kardashian has managed the delicate balancing act of publicly praising her ex-husband's fashion prowess whilst simultaneously recounting the emotional toll their marriage extracted.

The reality star turned business mogul recently showcased a pair of striking purple snakeskin boots designed by Kanye West's Yeezy brand in a Tuesday TikTok video—a casual gesture that speaks volumes about separating professional admiration from personal reckoning.

Filming from her closet, the 45-year-old SKIMS founder modelled a look from her recent Aspen sojourn, pairing distressed leather trousers with a velvet corset and those unmistakable Yeezy heels. 'I will say, there's nothing like a Yeezy heel,' she remarked with a lightness that belied deeper truths.

'I don't know if they ever made these boots, or just made them for me.' The compliment landed softly, almost reverently—a nod to West's undeniable design legacy, which exists entirely independent of their relationship's collapse.

Yet this seemingly benign fashion commentary arrives at a pivotal moment when Kim has been unusually candid about the human cost of their marriage.

Three years after finalising their divorce in November 2022, she has lifted the veil on what it truly meant to exit a partnership that, despite its public glamour, was privately suffocating.

The Toxic Reality Behind the Yeezy Praise

Speaking on Alex Cooper's Call Her Daddy podcast in October 2025, Kim offered an unflinching portrait of a union that had become untenable. She explained with characteristic restraint how she'd initially approached Kanye's mental health struggles with genuine compassion and commitment.

'I think when someone has their first mental break, you know, you want to be super supportive, and you want to help figure that out, and you want to really get into that with them and be there for them,' she said. But compassion, however profound, cannot sustain a marriage when the relationship itself becomes toxic.

The relationship had devolved into something far darker than the world realised. 'There were numerous issues that I couldn't tolerate,' Kim revealed to Cooper.

'I disliked the notion of someone speaking negatively about my children's grandparents and relatives. If someone does that, we can't be together.'

The instability was perhaps most corrosive. 'You never knew what to expect when you woke up, and that's an extremely unsettling sensation,' Kim reflected.

That daily uncertainty—the inability to ground oneself or one's children in any semblance of predictability—is what ultimately forced her hand. For years, she had attempted to hold the marriage together, absorbing the emotional turbulence and hoping to provide stability for North, now 12; Saint, 10; Chicago, 7; and Psalm, 6.

From Dissociation to Self-Preservation

What's striking about Kim's recent reflections is her willingness to name the psychological cost with startling clarity. 'I think I got really dissociated and there were so many times where I was just, like, really quiet and trying to figure it all out,' she confessed.

This was a woman slowly disappearing beneath the weight of preserving a deteriorating marriage—becoming smaller, quieter, less present. The partnership's performance had begun to overshadow her ability to be a mother.

The turning point came when she recognised that a critical threshold had been crossed. 'Once my mental health starts to get affected, and then I can't parent the way that I need to, and I can't be present and focused, then there's got to be one of us that can.

And I had to save myself in order to be a better mum for everyone,' she explained. This wasn't a selfish exit; it was an act of maternal necessity.

The children, now older, will eventually comprehend the sacrifice embedded in her decision. 'When everyone's older, they'll be able to understand it and see that all,' Kim said with the patience of someone who has made peace with temporary misunderstanding for long-term wellbeing.

Co-Parenting: The Ongoing Work

Today, co-parenting remains complicated, though neither combative nor effortless. 'I raise the kids full time,' Kim stated plainly.

'They live with me. I welcome a great, healthy relationship with my kids and their dad, and I think he knows that. I push for it all the time, but I also protect them when it's time for that.'

This protection is neither vengeful nor punitive—it's maternal guardianship. Kim admires instances of devoted parenting elsewhere, noting her appreciation for how Khloé's ex, Tristan Thompson, puts their children to bed nightly and takes them to school.

She's not seeking acrimony; she's seeking stability. 'And it goes in waves and phases and it's a lot of work,' she acknowledged.

Perhaps this is why she can praise a pair of Yeezy boots without contradiction. She's capable of recognising Kanye's creative genius whilst simultaneously acknowledging that genius cannot exist in isolation from the human damage that surrounded it.