Another high-profile relationship bites the dust. Reality television star Kim Kardashian, 40, has filed for divorce from rapper Kanye West, 43, after seven years of marriage. Representatives for Kardashian confirmed rumors about the couple’s demise on Feb. 20. 

While this will be the first divorce for West, this is Kardashian’s third. She previously married and divorced music producer Damon Thomas in 2004 and basketball player Kris Humphries in 2011. While Kardashian’s other marriages were short-lived, with Humphries’ famously only lasting around 72 days, she and West had something different.

Kardashian first rose to fame when she befriended mega-superstar Paris Hilton. She catapulted into stardom, however, after the premiere of her family’s reality television show “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” in 2007. Meanwhile, West started pursuing his music career after dropping out of Chicago State University and moving to New York in 2001. His 2004 album “The College Dropout” was heralded as a masterpiece that changed modern-day hip hop’s trajectory. West built on his success from there, releasing albums such as “Graduation” (2007), “808s and Heartbreak” (2008), “Yeezus” (2013), and “The Life of Pablo” (2016). 

West immediately developed a crush on Kardashian when they first met back in 2003, but they didn’t become friends until they worked on a project together in 2008. Kourtney Kardashian, Kim’s sister, revealed in a 2012 episode of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” that the two had started seeing each other, and Kim announced their relationship that June. The couple got married in May 2014 in Florence, Italy, and later renewed their vows in May 2019.

The couple have four children together – North, age 7, Saint, age 5, Chicago, age 3 and Psalm, aged 21 months. Sources say that Kardashian seeks joint legal and physical custody of the children, which West reportedly agrees with. A prenuptial agreement is also already in place.

The two have been living two very separate lives for the past few months. West spends most of his time on his ranch in Cody, Wyoming, while Kardashian lives in her Calabasas mansion outside Los Angeles. 

According to Entertainment Tonight, a source stated that the pair are currently on amicable terms amid the split for their childrens’’ sake. “Kim still loves and supports Kanye and wants the best for him and their entire family,” the source revealed. “They are obviously still evaluating what that looks like exactly, but Kim is prepared across the board for anything that might come her way. Kim is worried and concerned that Kanye is not mentally stable enough to be the dad that their family needs.”

For West, however, another inside source for People Magazine revealed that the rap superstar is currently struggling with the split. “Kanye is not doing well,” the source told PEOPLE. “He is anxious and very sad. He knows that the marriage is over, and there’s nothing that can be done right now. He also knows what he is losing in Kim.”

Kardashian’s decision to file for divorce comes after months of speculation around the pair’s status, with many reports hinting that their marriage was on the rocks. Rumors started to spread in April 2020 as a source told Us Magazine that West focused more on “creating” rather than parenting his children. This led to tension between him and Kardashian, which heightened significantly during the quarantine imposed by COVID-19.

Things came to a head in July 2020 after West announced his bid for the U.S. presidency. West posted a series of bizarre Tweets soon after his first rally, including one that said he had been trying to divorce Kardashian for some time. He claimed that Kardashian and her family kept trying to “lock him up” for psychiatric care and even equated Kardashian’s mother, Kris Jenner, to “Kris Jong-Un.” He deleted the Tweet moments later. 

Kardashian defended her husband after the incident, pleading to her fans to understand her husband’s plight. West was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2016, and the incident was indicative of a manic episode. Bipolar disorder causes extreme mood and behavior shifts, and individuals with the disorder experience dramatic highs (manic episodes) and lows (depressive episodes). Kardashian has always stuck by her husband’s side through his struggles, but a source stated that “[Kardashian’s] family ‘felt as though he really crossed a line by talking negatively about them publicly and sharing private family matters with the public.’”

The pair embarked on a family vacation in August 2020 to help rebuild their relationship. It helped for some time, but fans quickly noticed that Kardashian was not wearing her wedding ring in a November 2020 Instagram post. By Jan. 2021, multiple reports revealed that Kim was done with their marriage after a massive fight in Dec. 2020. 

“She has grown up a lot this past year and is studying the law so she can really make change and provide a better world for her kids,” a second source told Us. “Kanye isn’t as focused and doesn’t live in the real world, their world views no longer line up.”

Kardashian recruited celebrity divorce attorney Laura Wasser to help with the proceedings. They filed the documents on Feb. 22 and cited irreconcilable differences as the cause of divorce. The date of their separation is to be determined.