Kim Kardashian says bond with North West rebounded after Kanye West divorce

North West was angry after the split—now she’s calling her mom to say “I love you”

Kim Kardashian says her relationship with daughter North West went through a tough stretch after her divorce from Kanye West, but it has swung back in a big way. In the latest episode of The Kardashians, titled “She Said Yes!”, Kim told sister Kourtney that North was “mad at me” for about a year in the wake of the breakup. Now, Kim says, her 11-year-old daughter is “obsessed” with her and often calls with friends to gush: “Mom, I love you. You’re the best mom.”

That pivot, Kim believes, traces directly to the divorce fallout. “It’s insane, the turnaround,” she said during a casual ping-pong chat with Kourtney. The moment was brief but revealing, a candid checkpoint in a long, public split that has touched every part of the family’s life.

Kourtney added that North had always been sweet in her own messages to her aunt, suggesting the rough patch may have centered more on how Kim and North navigated their own space while everything else was shifting. The episode also included Kim venting about the relentless noise around the breakup and its aftermath: “I don’t want to be a part of this narrative… I’m stuck with this for the rest of my life.”

Kim filed for divorce in February 2021 after nearly seven years of marriage. Court filings finalizing the split arrived in late 2022, with the former couple sharing custody of their four children: North, 11, Saint, 9, Chicago, 7, and Psalm, 5. The logistics were one battle; the scrutiny was another. Kanye’s public comments, social media outbursts, and headline-generating controversies repeatedly spilled into family life, and Kim has said more than once that managing the public fallout while protecting the kids has been an exhausting balance.

The bigger picture: co-parenting under a spotlight and North’s growing voice

North has become a visible figure in her own right, and that’s part of why this shift matters. She has her own taste, her own opinions, and a growing platform. In a past Interview Magazine feature, she credited her dad as a major style influence—noticeably leaving her fashion-icon mom off the list. This year, she’s also been out front performing music alongside Kanye’s Vultures rollout, showing comfort on stage and a clear creative streak.

All of that played out while Kim tried to keep boundaries in place. She’s spoken before about filtering what her kids see online, handling school drop-offs, and keeping day-to-day life normal when the internet is anything but. During the roughest cycles of Kanye’s public comments, Kim said she was determined not to drag the conflict into her kids’ lives. That restraint—on camera and off—has been a theme of the last few seasons of The Kardashians.

The new on-camera admission about North being upset gives rare shape to what “protecting the kids” looks like from the inside. Kids often test the parent they see as the safer emotional landing pad. In this case, Kim suggests the anger was temporary and tied to the divorce’s immediate aftershocks. Now, she describes a warmer, easier rhythm with her oldest, the kind that includes spontaneous calls and affectionate check-ins.

There’s also the fashion and identity layer. North’s admiration for Kanye’s style lines up with her public looks—oversized tees, varsity jackets, vintage sports gear—and her stage persona when she’s performed. At the same time, she has grown up around Skims fittings, Met Gala prep, and a house full of design books. The push and pull between her parents’ worlds is baked in, but the latest episode hints that Kim and North have found common ground that doesn’t force a choice between them.

Timeline-wise, the beats are clear: the 2021 filing, a long year of navigating change at home, the 2022 legal finish, and then an ongoing co-parenting life lived under cameras and camera phones. Through it, Kim has tried to keep routines steady—school, sports, cousins, holidays—while steering around flare-ups on social media. The admission that North turned a corner signals that, at least in their house, the temperature is dropping.

None of this says the larger narrative is simple. Kanye’s public presence remains unpredictable, and North is stepping into preteen years with more attention than most adults will ever know. But the latest glimpse from the Hulu series shows a mom and daughter moving past a tough year and settling into a closer bond. For a family whose lives are both a show and a reality, that may be the most stabilizing plot twist yet.