Kim Kardashian: Even with help, ‘I’m basically raising four kids by myself’

In recent months, Kim Kardashian and “sources” close to her have been emphasizing the fact that she’s raising four children pretty much by herself. The comments were, I believed, about Kanye West’s lack of involvement with his children, although I think Kanye does spend some time with North (the oldest). But Saint, Chicago and Psalm? Ye isn’t involved. It really is up to Kim to do all of the child-rearing and keep up with all of the kids’ schools and activities. But this whole time, we’ve always believed that Kim has an army of nannies and helpers. I mean, she’s a billionaire on paper, she’s also still a “law student,” of course she pays for nannies and helpers, right? Well, not according to Kim, who told a podcast that she’s “basically raising four kids by myself here.”

Kim Kardashian admits she often feels “alone” raising the four children she shares with ex Kanye West. During Tuesday’s episode of pal Zoe Winkler’s iHearRadio podcast, “What In The Winkler,” the reality star addressed her co-parenting arrangement with her ex-husband. The episode was dropped just weeks after a source claimed to People that West has been an absent father.

“You and I have mostly connected on parenting and judgment, and you know, feeling like sometimes you’re in this alone,” Kardashian, 44, told Henry Winkler’s daughter. The Skims founder — who shares North, 11, Saint, 8, Chicago, 6, and Psalm, 5, with West — went on to confess that she also feels overwhelmed at times.

“Even though we have great support systems and we have people around us, but sometimes in the middle of the night when [the kids are] all sleeping in your bed, kicking you and crying and waking up, like, it is…,” she said before trailing off. “It’s not something I talk about a lot because I feel like there is always a lot of judgment. Or people will always jump to the, ‘Oh, but you have the resources to have nannies and to have help.’ And I just think that no matter what kind of help I have, I’m basically raising four kids by myself.”

Zoe called Kardashian’s current parenting situation “insane,” to which the Hulu star replied, “Yeah. I mean, even carpool this morning, I had five kids that I had to take, two came over, and everyone leaves and wants to leave at like, different times and wants different stuff. I feel like I’m at, like, a pitstop of a racecar driver, when it’s like, ‘Brush your teeth, brush your teeth, brush your teeth, brush your teeth, OK, get dressed, get dressed, do your hair.’”

Zoe brought up in the podcast how the SKKN by Kim creator drives her children to school every morning. “That’s what’s really important to me … driving them to school every single day is just what I have to do no matter what [my] work schedule [is]. It’s really important to me. That’s just, like, my bonding time. That’s when I can get them up, get ready, but it’s madness.”

[From Page Six & Marie Claire]

“I just think that no matter what kind of help I have, I’m basically raising four kids by myself.” Yeah, even though I know everyone loves to hate on Kim, I understand what she’s saying. She’s not saying she doesn’t have nannies or help, she’s saying that she’s the only one parenting her kids. She’s the only one making decisions about the kids, she’s the only one “raising” these kids. I think that’s fair for her to feel that way. I’d also like to point out that… she’s the one who wanted four kids. Even when her marriage was on its last legs, she was still organizing a gestational carrier for the two younger kids. She said that was what she wanted. And now that she’s raising the kids on her own, she’s overwhelmed.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images, Instagram.

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87 Responses to “Kim Kardashian: Even with help, ‘I’m basically raising four kids by myself’”

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  1. Anon says:

    it seems like her life is like a fairy tale. or like a lie, as adults say.

  2. ThatGirlThere says:

    Good for her that she has help. And looks to be raising a little maga in her eldest son.

    • Neeve says:

      Have the Kardashions ever made clear their political standings? Something tells me they are more Republican despite who they claim to be.

      • Steph says:

        I think they’ve said publicly that they are moderate Republicans. I don’t know if that means they are Maga though.

      • Sandra says:

        I didn’t look to closely at what I was scrolling past but something something Khloe indicated she was maga by something something. I think testing the waters on how it affects the brand before being vocal about it.

      • sunshine says:

        kim said in an interview some years back that she was a “liberal republican”, so…

        anyway, i remember wendy williams predicting on her show that she would be a single mum (when it was announced that she and kanye were expecting their first child), and her own audience hissed at her. i agreed with her then, and i don’t know how anyone ever thought that relationship would end well..
        she keeps going on and on about how she’s raising 4 kids “all by myself”, like she wants pity or a medal or something, like??. honey, what were you thinking having that many kids with a known mentally unstable narcissist?
        from this, to the situations with cardi + grimes, etc to even the women we know and love in our lives .. i can’t be the only one exhausted by these stories at this point. be SMART, women!!!!

    • Snoozer says:

      What do you mean? In these pics he’s just wearing a series of sports jerseys?

      • Sandra says:

        per @atlantababe ‘s comment: one of her sons was/is running some anti kamala youtube channel and reposted conspiracy vids.

      • Lau says:

        Isn’t he under 10 ?! Why is he running a youtube channel and reposting conspiracy nonsense ?!
        Also Kim was promoting tesla like last week, I thought it was pretty clear what her political views were.

    • Jan says:

      He had to hear it somewhere, the nasty stuff he posted about Kamala.

  3. atlantababe says:

    a+ parenting as one of her sons was/is running some anti kamala youtube channel and reposted conspiracy vids.

  4. sevenblue says:

    I don’t even think Kanye was an involved parent when they were married. He was always off somewhere.

  5. Andrea says:

    Everyone saw that coming..

  6. Josephine says:

    She’s one of the faces of consumerism and women focusing their existence on being palatable to men. She sets back women and her time in the public just really needs to be over. Everything about her is dated at this point.
    And isn’t she shilling for Musk? Maybe she can get him to include her in his compound of women and kids.

  7. wendy says:

    Raising….grooming the next generation of ‘talent’…potato/tomato.

  8. Shoegirl77 says:

    Across the globe, all these celebrities and their reverence for the school run. Sorry, that’s all I got.

    • somebody says:

      Yes. Quality time it looks like to me (when you can afford in-home childcare), would be having one on one time with each child and not obsessing over the school run where everybody is preparing for the day.

      • Fabiola says:

        How is driving your kids to school and then complaining about it quality time with your kids? Shut up and hire a driver and spend some real time with your kids if it’s so important to you

    • StillDouchesOfCambridge says:

      That’s what they think they still need to do to be grounded and also some of the schools dont allow the helps to be driving the children. It has to be a parent.

    • seaflower says:

      Got to do the school run so you be seen to be “hands on”, and you. know just seen in general.

    • bisynaptic says:

      I thought the same thing. 😂

    • Mia4s says:

      It comes across as performative and out of touch ( so certainly fits Kim 🙄). I remember parental presence at mealtime, playtime, school events mattering to me. General time spent together basically. But other than the first and last day of school I don’t remember caring in the slightest who picked me up or dropped me off. So weird.

      • BeanieBean says:

        We went to the schools in the neighborhood, the ones we lived closest to. We walked or took the bus or rode our bikes. This school run obsession must be for the rich folks who send their kids to private schools.

  9. Mightymolly says:

    I believe her life is no fairytale. And I also believe she chose a series of husbands based on image, chose to have four offspring accessories with the final husband and didn’t expect them to be four unique human beings with individual needs. And I believe she’s always been maga because she’s a miserable, shallow, self-centered human. No sane person would want her life, so I guess she’s entitled to complain about it too.

    • sunny says:

      This part. She chose to have many children with a man she was using for his social cache at t the time and also his race. Her family has built most of their wealth on lies and exploitation to say nothing of how they’ve exploited and capitalized on a racial ambiguity and blackness.

      I’m sure single parenting is difficult even with all the help but given all the decisions she has made, she walked into this with some knowledge.

      Good luck to the children is all I’m coming away with.

      • sunshine says:

        she’s using the motherhood schtick as a way to sort of rebrand and make people forget how problematic and grossly culture-appropriating she’s always been. it’s so exhausting.

    • fYI says:

      🎯 🎯 🎯 🎯 🎯 🎯

  10. somebody says:

    Maybe not publicly complain about your children. They have enough to deal with as far as attention from media.

    • Steph says:

      Interesting that you read this as a complaint about her children. I didn’t get that at all. I took it as struggling with parenting and what goes into that regardless of who the kids are, not as a complaint against the kids themselves.

      • somebody says:

        Parents will likely see it that way. Children don’t always see things the same way as adults and find some things embarrassing to have out in public. Other children are likely to pick up on things like sleeping in her bed with her and tease them.

      • Meredith says:

        She’s sending the message that her children are a burden, and she shouldn’t be complaining about the difficulties of parenting where her children can read it. She can talk about it to friends/family/therapists when her kids are out of earshot. As a solo parent myself, I feel for her being the sole rational decision maker for 4 little humans— that’s legit hard! And the nanny won’t help with that. But I’d never complain where my kids might hear (or read) it, because parenting is hard but they are NOT a burden and they should not be in a position to “overhear” overwhelmed discussions about themselves.

  11. Stef says:

    While I get what she’s saying, the sympathy is lacking. She chose to have 4 kids with a man who was hardly interested in her, let alone a family. She whines and is “woe is me” any chance she gets and it’s just tired. Can’t stand this vapid woman. She could do so much to help the world yet does nothing but set women back.

  12. N2NY says:

    She might not appear so completely privileged and self-absorbed if she acknowledged that mothers with far fewer resources have to raise children on their own too–without nannies or housekeepers or assistants or unlimited resources or having to worry how to pay for new school clothes or lunch money or rent. She picked a loser to be their biological father. Stand in line lady.

  13. Lightpurpleo says:

    Are those trees on loan from Melania’s nightmare Christmas at the White House?

  14. Be careful what you wish for applies here. She knew what Kanye was capable of or not capable of after her first child and yet she wanted more.

    • Amy says:

      Agreed! She was arranging a gestational carrier while her marriage was on the rocks. She chose this.

    • Brassy Rebel says:

      @Susan Collins: you took the words right out of my mouth. Also, surely she has enough money at this point. Why doesn’t she drop all her work activities or projects and devote herself full time to the four kids until they’re mostly grown? She really should have thought of how challenging four kids under 12 would be while having a career and an absent husband. Yeah, I’m being judgmental. Sorry, not sorry.

      • megs283 says:

        Same! Feeling stressed? Sell off a company. Put a pause on school. Stop doing podcasts. And double the salary of “the help,” because, why not?

  15. Alwyn says:

    Kim is a single mom with four kids. I’m sure she feels overwhelmed at times, as all parents do. But she also has a household staff that allows her to enjoy plenty of ‘me time’, something that very parents have.

  16. Bumblebee says:

    Of course she’s not going to get any sympathy because what she’s talking about is normal! This is every mother’s life, even if there is an involved father. We ALL feel like this or felt this. Instead of making this struggle about me, me, me, she should have talked about that.

  17. Lucy2 says:

    I don’t doubt that their father is completely uninvolved, and that at times it is difficult, but let’s be honest, she has employees doing all of the stuff that makes most parents lives overwhelming. There’s an army of nannies who run the kids all around, she is not cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, or probably even scheduling all their various appointments and everything. She has assistants to do all of that for her and her family. Emotionally it’s probably difficult to be a single parent to for kids like that, but physically, no.
    Also their father has always been troubled, and she chose to have four children with him, despite him and their marriage being unstable from the start.

  18. megs283 says:

    Well, I almost had sympathy for Kim, but then I remembered that my ANNUAL salary equals about 16 hours of work for her.

  19. Steph says:

    Someone used the word capable in the comments. And that’s were my issue comes in. Just bc her marriage was in it’s legs, a woman can still have kids with that man and expect him to do his job as a CO parent. However, with Kanye, his mental health was deteriorating long before the last two kids. She knew she was going to be mostly on her own raising the kids bc at minimum he’d need some supervision with the kids. She chose to have more kids with him anyway.
    I really hope she’s looked into health more. In earlier years of Keeping Up she clearly didn’t believe how real mental illness was. She just thought Rob’s depression was because he was lazy. There is a very, very, high chance that least one of her kids inherited Kanye’s mental health issues and she’s going to need to prepare as best as possible to support them.

  20. boba says:

    She has some responsibility. Less than a year after Kanye was forcibly institutionalized due to his erratic behavior and mental health issues, they pursued surrogacy for a 3rd child. After Kanye continued to have severe mental health struggles, they chose surrogacy again for a 4th child. Kim knew he was unwell and kept having babies with him. He was not actively involved with the lives of his oldest 2 kids at that time, and yet they thought he’d be a good dad to 2 more?

    • Sue says:

      It’s a pattern with 4 of the sisters. Kourtney had 3 children with her ex Scott while his severe addiction issues were known. Kylie wasn’t with her ex Travis anymore and they had a 2nd baby (or maybe they were on again off again?). Khloe knew her ex was cheating on her and she went and had another baby with him via surrogate. I guess it makes it easier for splitting custody with only one man? Doesn’t seem like a logical choice but I’m not in their expensive shoes.

      • molly says:

        That’s what gets me. I have empathy for Kim as woman and mother, but intentionally having multiple children with ill-equipped and uninterested men is a pattern of behavior in that family with knowable consequences, and I offer no sympathies.

    • Josephine says:

      Exactly — when you have kids for “brand” purposes, you have already failed as a parent.

    • LightPurple says:

      And let’s not overlook that the institutionalization happened while she was out of the way and his road team stepped in and made it happen.

  21. Lucía says:

    Lol. Yeah, nothing about this moves me in the least.

  22. Becks1 says:

    Well, okay, she’s a single parent whose ex-partner does not seem mentally competent (I’m not sure what his current health status is at the moment) so yes, she is going to be doing the majority of the parenting, especially the mental load of the parenting.

    But that said, she has an army of staff to help her. It’s not the same as having a partner with whom you can share the mental/emotional load equally, but its more than what a lot of women have. Even her comments about the school run reek of privilege – she’s doing it because she WANTS to, because its important to her. Most parents do it because they have to. They may like it as well, but there isn’t another choice. Kim has other choices.

    • Starla, Dear says:

      School runs are important unguarded moments around the kids. They’re a prime time to learn how they’re really doing. If the kids are having trouble in a class or there’s something going on socially (like a bully problem), it’ll often come out during these moments.

      • Nic919 says:

        Or maybe they can speak with their kids once they get off the bus. Lots of parents who don’t have time to drop off and pick up their kids find ways to learn what is going on with their kids. If you have a job where you can take the morning and afternoon to pick up and drop off kids that is called privilege.

        Kim has the money for help. Money doesn’t buy sense when it comes to who might be a helpful co parent. This is on her.

      • Becks1 says:

        I have two kids. I have never done the school run in my life because they take the bus. And yet somehow I still know how they are doing in school, what is happening socially, etc.

        And again, don’t complain about how much it stresses you out while also saying that you want to do it. She has the means to not do it if she doesn’t want to; she wants to, so she does. And that’s fine. but if its that much of a stressor for her she can farm it out. that’s privilege.

  23. ariel says:

    Something nice. I love how both Kim and Khloe include their niece Dream (Rob’s daughter) in activities with their kids.
    A big family with cousins can be a wonderful experience.

  24. Renee' says:

    She knew what she was in for after the 2nd child and DEFINITELY after the 3rd child. She would not rest until she brought a 4th child into her chaos. She saw the writing on the wall & did it anyway. My sympathies lie with her children….not her.

  25. Mirage says:

    I completely empathise with Kim.
    I have a co-parent that is involved in practical matters, but not at all in the organisation of the children lives. He is a bit like an adult kid who do what I say but will never take any initiatives.
    I think Kim is talking about that kind of emotional isolation.
    She may have all the help in the world, but she still has to organise it.

    I, too, had my second child knowing that things were not well with my co-parent.
    But I was already 39 and it was a case of ‘now or never’.
    Do I regret having a second child with what I know now? No. It would have been hard to leave then and start from scratch. I had to choose between a rock and a hard place.
    Do I believe Kim should be crucified for the choices she made? Not at all.

    I think some women are driven by a vision of what their family will look like. And that vision overrides everything. For Kim, it was a big happy family. For me, 2 children I could transmit my heritage to.
    That our partners didn’t meet out expectations doesn’t make us worthy of such harsh criticism.

    • Josephine says:

      I don’t think she was looking for big, happy family. I think she was looking to expand the brand and for more girls.

  26. Starla, Dear says:

    Let’s not pretend that only billionaires have housekeepers and nannies. Also, parenting alone is a challenge no matter how many kids you have or staff that you employ.

  27. OriginalLeigh says:

    I wish Kim’s children the best but find it ridiculous that she is complaining about this while actively not caring at all about the welfare of the children of the middle and working class. I really don’t want to hear about the hardships of anyone who is MAGA or even MAGA adjacent: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/22/style/kim-kardashian-tesla-musk-trump.html

  28. Kateeee says:

    She is extremely type A, and I’m sure that extends to how her children are raised: no matter how many hands help her with chores and management, she is handling the emotional load alone. So, I appreciate where she is coming from even if she has absolutely no perspective on real life or the privilege of choice that she enjoys.

  29. Chaine says:

    Who is the extra child?

  30. Jaded says:

    Sorry not sorry. She chose to have 4 kids with someone who is clearly struggling with some serious mental health issues and has apparently checked out of most of his parenting duties as a result. I hope those kids turn out OK and none of them inherit Ye’s issues, but growing up in that family must be chaotic. All the money and attention lavished on them, most of the women in and out of unstable marriages and relationships with fathers who aren’t very present, the public eye on them constantly, a recipe for some difficult behaviour I predict.

    • Starla, Dear says:

      To be fair, the wider expectation of men sharing parenting duties is a relatively modern concept. Even so, I think men assume some tasks but not necessarily the emotional weight of raising kids, which is like being on call.

      Sometimes it just takes time for women to recognize/come to terms with an unstable or abusive relationship—especially when children are involved. The women in those relationships have the most at stake and only they can determine a timeline for the best way forward or out.

      In many ways, this is ultimately about survival. We have to be real, though: money is no immunity idol.

      • Nic919 says:

        No actually fathers not being involved started with the Industrial Revolution when jobs were moved away from home. Prior to that fathers were involved because they were all together working on the farm.

  31. Jacques says:

    Reports have always stated that she has 4-6 nannies. The responsibility for their daily needs comes from nannies. Teaching them life lessons must come from Kim, Elon, and Trump.

    • Gewels says:

      @Jacques Considering you really have no conclusive proof on her political views, this just comes across as hate.
      She’s a single mother and talking about that and you feel it’s ok to diss her on your imagined view of her children.
      Be better.

  32. QuiteContrary says:

    Cry me a freaking river.

    She’s an insanely privileged woman who made lousy choices. You made your bed in your weird minimalist house, Kim.

  33. Liz Purr says:

    And she’s not really good at being a mom. She’s setting Nori up for failure by trying to shove her in the spotlight, and Saint’s already a little s**t.

  34. Mia4s says:

    “But Saint, Chicago and Psalm? Ye isn’t involved.”

    I never really thought of that but now that you mention it, he really does seem more interested in the oldest. I hate to say it but given his bizarre ideas I wonder if it has something to do with them being the three born via gestational carrier? Or maybe it’s as simple as he didn’t want more than one kid. Whatever the reasoning, that’s sad if the kids start to notice.

  35. mightymolly says:

    Angelina Jolie has six children and an abusive ex. Her children are older, but she’s also not a billionaire and has maintained a multi-continent film and philanthropy career while raising who by all accounts are wonderful children. (Sure she also has tons of support staff, but just by comparison she isn’t nearly as wealthy as Kim.) Can you imagine her whining about being a single parent?

  36. Jklasdf says:

    Isn’t it better that Kanye not be involved? Like do you reallllyyy want him involved with his issues? Wouldn’t it be better to have 1 stable parent? Her life would he so much worse if he was hands on.

  37. Libra says:

    You think you’ve got your hands full now?? In 8 years you will have 4 teenagers. Get back to us then.

    • mightymolly says:

      Nah, as teens they’ll all be so busy working to build their brand and further the KarJen dynasty that Kim will only see them when PMK calls a business meeting.

  38. Veronica S. says:

    Girl, please. There’s never been a point where the wealthy were raising their kids alone. That’s peasant shit.

    I’lll give her that she’s the only emotionally available adult in their life, but let’s not pretend they’d be better off with their unmedicated father involved. She knew what he was when she chose to have children with him.

  39. Andrea says:

    I save my sympathy for the children brought into their message. Pure tragedy, I don’t care who much money the parents have.

  40. LaurenAPMT says:

    I totally respect that she is raising her children almost entirely without their Father’s presence or participation, but she is NOT raising those kids as a “single Mother”. The majority of single Moms aren’t given nearly enough credit for everything they do entirely on their own, without the help of nannies or family, without the privilege of massive wealth, and without the legal luxury of complaining about their ex-husband; many single Moms are bound to parenting plans and court-sanctioned actions designed to prevent parents from bad-mouthing each other (not often enforced, but those women aren’t going to the national media to say their exes are crappy Dads).
    What she has accomplished is admirable, but I strongly object to her referring to herself or thinking of herself as a “single Mom”.