Olajide Meseko
Reality television celebrity and businesswoman Kim Kardashian has filed for divorce from rapper Kanye West after almost seven years of marriage and months of rumours that their relationship had broken down.
Representatives for Los Angeles Superior Court and for the 40-year-old star said on Friday that she had filed the divorce papers.
Celebrity website TMZ cited unidentified sources as saying the split was amicable and that Kardashian had asked for joint custody of the couple’s four children. The grounds for the divorce were not immediately known.
Representatives for West did not immediately return a request for comment, but a source close to the “Jesus Walks” rapper told the People magazine that he was “resigned to reality”.
“He knew it was coming, but that doesn’t make it any easier,” the source was quoted as telling the People. “This is a sombre day for him.”.
The filing follows months of leaks and reports that the marriage between the two celebrities was on the rocks.
Kardashian, who made her name in the reality TV series Keeping Up with the Kardashians, married West, 43, in May 2014, making them one of the most talked about celebrity couples in Hollywood and popu larly known as “Kimye”.
The couple’s already unconventional relationship became strained last year when West, who suffers from bipolar disorder, ran an unsuccessful campaign marked by erratic statements to be elected US president under his self-styled Birthday Party.
Kardashian in July released a statement urging compassion for West’s mental health struggles after he swiftly deleted a tweet in which he said he had been trying to divorce her for months.
