Rapper Kanye West and his partner Bianca Censori may have only been together for eight months, but fans are growing increasingly worried for the 28-year-old model after a series of worrying public appearances.
The couple – who reportedly wed in a non-binding ceremony in January – were pictured on several PDA-packed outings during their Italian getaway last week, with fans commenting on not only Bianca’s alarming new style choices but also on Kanye’s previous influence on ex-wife Kim’s look.
Referring to Kanye, 46, one wrote, “In his early days with Kim he had her dressing like this too. Bianca will wake up to him once the novelty of being his wife wears off”, while others described one of Bianca’s shocking “nude” outfits as “pornographic”.
And insiders say that Kim – currently single after splitting from her comedian ex Pete Davidson in August last year – is fearful that this is history repeating itself.
A source says, “Kim is watching the situation with Kanye and Bianca open-mouthed and she can’t believe how reminiscent it is of how Kanye was with her. She says she can see Bianca being moulded into Kanye’s ideal of the perfect woman. She thinks it’s worrying that Kanye did not learn his lesson and that he feels it’s OK to treat people like this.”
Kim, 42, and Kanye met in the early noughties when the rapper was recording a song with R&B star Brandy – who was friends with Kim – but they didn’t start dating until years later in 2012. They tied the knot in May 2014 and continue to co-parent their four children North, 10, Saint, seven, Chicago, five and three-year-old Psalm following their divorce, which was finalised in November last year.
Throughout their marriage, Kim’s look drastically changed, with the influencer, model and businesswoman – who rose to fame in 2007 on Keeping Up With The Kardashians – progressively opting for PVC ensembles, a Balenciaga catsuit made solely from tape and a whole-body black cover-up to the Met Gala.
And it seemed that Kanye – who runs his own fashion label Yeezy – was in charge of her look. In a 2012 episode of KUWTK, Kanye famously overhauled her wardrobe, telling her they have to “really clean out everything”.
Their separation didn’t stop the Gold Digger hitmaker pulling apart her sartorial choices, as Kim read out text messages from him in an episode of The Kardashians last year, where he slammed her outfit at Milan Fashion Week.
“The orange look made me so mad. Would have went to jail before I went out in that,” he wrote.
And the source now adds, “Kim looks at Bianca and it spooks her as it’s precisely what happened to her. Kanye is extremely passionate about fashion, but it can become an obsession, with the X-rated outfits and the OTT looks becoming really tough to deal with. Kim has told friends that she feels as if she wants to take Bianca aside and advise her on how to keep true to herself and her own ideas for her self image.
“In Kim’s opinion, all the fame or exposure in the world isn’t worth being someone else’s puppet. She feels she owes it to Bianca to try to open her eyes and talk sense into her before it’s too late.”
After her split from Kanye in 2021, Kim began dating Saturday Night Live star Pete. An enraged Kanye disturbingly made his intense dislike of the comedian known when he released a music video portraying an animated version of himself kidnapping and decapitating a character who looked remarkably like Pete. Around the same time, the father-of-four chanced his arm at trying to win back his ex by sending her a van full of roses.
Nowadays, the former power couple are seemingly civil for the sake of their children, having both been pictured at their son Saint’s football game several months ago.
The source adds, “The last thing Kim wants is to create any more tension. It pays for her to just wish him well from afar, and communicate politely about co-parenting responsibilities and other practical things where there’s still some overlap.
“Despite everything that happened, she’s still able to look at the positives and remind people that Kanye brought her four beautiful, free-spirited and super-cool kids. But the scars are still there, and it all comes flooding back when she sees what’s happening with Bianca.”