When the world saw a photo of Kim Kardashian gripping Pete Davidson’s hand on a roller coaster way back in October 2021, it was met with a small, confused laugh and a shake of the head.
Sure, it seemed unlikely that the two would be hanging out, but celebrities run in weird circles, and it wasn’t that strange was it?
However, as weeks passed, and more paparazzi photos surfaced, eyebrows were raised across the globe as we asked a collective ‘wait, really?’.
It seemed like the reality TV superstar and Skims mogul had begun a relationship with none other than the Saturday Night Live comedian, who was 13 years her junior, making for a celebrity pairing we did not have on our 2021 bingo card.
Was it for PR? Was Kim on a strange rebound mission as she healed from her divorce with Kanye West?
As it turns out, no – Kim and Pete were very much in love, and as Kim’s new series, The Kardashians aired on screens, we were hearing more about them than ever before.
But all good things must come to an end, and sadly, Kim and Pete called it quits on their whirlwind romance in August 2022.
We’re looking back at their relationship below.
Reports first emerged in early August 2022 that the pair had called it quits.
At the time, Pete was based in Australia, filming a new movie. Kim had visited him in far north Queensland but remained based in the States, where she continued working and mothering her four kids – North, Saint, Chicago and Psalm.
The report came from PEOPLE, who were contacted by an ‘insider’ who confirmed the split.
“Part of the reason they split was because of their busy schedules,” they revealed.
“They both travel all the time and it was hard.”
In the first episode of The Kardashians Season Three, Kim revealed what led to their breakup, admitting that breakups just weren’t her thing but she was proud of how the pair handled things.
“We just had talks and talks, we had been talking about it,” Kim explained. “So it was both of us just communicating really well about it. It’s obviously sad.”
Kim also admitted that ex-husband Kanye West added a complex layer of stress to her relationship with Pete. “There was a lot of guilt,” Kim said, “he went through a lot because of my relationship.”
When news of Pete and Kim’s split first emerged, fans were shocked, especially since they had just revelled in the delight of watching Pete make his Kardashians debut.
Pete made his first appearance on Kim’s family’s reality TV show, The Kardashians, in the season one finale – though he never actually appeared on screen.
In the episode, which aired for the first time in June 2022, the comedian could be heard joking with Kim from off-camera, and the jokes were a little spicy to say the least.
“Pete, come here, you have to meet Paxy. Paxy has worked with me as audio [for] 14 years from Keeping Up With the Kardashians. She knows everything about me. She’s probably seen my vagina,” Kim told her beau from the confessional chair.
“More than me?” he replied cheekily, to which Kim responded with a grin: “Not more than you, but she’s probably seen it.”
Though he never appeared on camera through the show’s first season, he was a constant presence as the Kardashian family regularly discussed their romance.
Long before the series aired, fans had already been carrying out investigative work into how the two got to know each other before the show aired, but got more details once it hit streaming platforms.
It seems Pete probably knew Kim casually, given he shares a mutual friend with her ex-husband Kanye in Kid Cudi. Pete had even referred to Kimye as the ‘cutest couple’ after meeting them at a birthday dinner in 2019.
People were certain that Pete and Kim struck something up after Kim hosted Saturday Night Live, where Pete had a regular gig, especially given they shared an on-screen kiss for an Aladdin-themed skit.
However, it seems they might have started chatting a little beforehand.
“I knew him [before SNL], and I saw him at the Met,” Kim confirmed to Amanda Hirsch on the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast, referring to the Met Gala where she wore a head-to-toe black Balenciaga gown that covered her entire face.
While completely iconic, we weren’t surprised to learn the outfit caused a bit of difficulty for her when it came to flirting, and honestly this never would have happened in the raindrop dress.
Pete offered to give Kim his number in case she needed anything for her upcoming gig hosting SNL.
“He was like, ‘Take my number if you need anything’,” she recalled.
“And I had gloves on and I couldn’t get in my phone with the gloves, and I was like, ‘Oh I have gloves! And I can’t –’ and he was like ‘All right cool,’ and walked away,” she explained.
Despite the utter awkwardness of that exchange, the pair thankfully had SNL to help them find some common ground. Kim admitted the on-screen kiss had her feeling something she hadn’t in a while, but she was left hanging when Pete didn’t turn up to the after party post-episode.
Speaking on an episode of The Kardashians, Kim explained to producers and her sisters how they finally got together. She smiled very coyly when Khloé asked her what was going on in her dating life, but eventually spilled the beans.
“I did SNL and when we kissed in scene, it was just a vibe,” she admitted.
“I wasn’t even thinking ‘oh my God, I’m going to be in a relationship with him’, I was just thinking [I’ve] heard about this BDE, need to get out there, I need to just like jumpstart my… I was just basically DTF” she deadpanned.
Just as a quick recap, DTF means she was very ready to get physical with Pete, while BDE is ‘big d— energy’, which was a term coined in the zeitgeist when Ariana Grande, Pete’s ex, referred to his package size in a brazen tweet.
Although she said the relationship had come with a lot of laughter, she also admitted how happy she was at the normal nature of their relationship.
“Everyone thinks it’s like a hysterical comedy show at all times, I’m like ‘no, it’s normal’,” she countered.
“Pete has got to be literally the best human being I’ve ever met, like the best heart” Kim told producers in a talking head.
“People always say ‘oh, he’s so funny’ … that’s like fourth on my list of why I like him.
“[He] always wants the best for people, can handle anything, always does it with grace, he’s really, really thoughtful and humble, and just so genuine. I would say the perfect word to describe Pete is genuine,” she said.
“I never knew you can just be so happy watching TV series [together], and going to the gym,” she told her sisters.
As we watch this unfold on The Kardashians now, it’s easy to forget it’s only been a few months since the pair took up together, given it feels like they’ve been together for a lifetime. Or maybe that’s just because of how long we’ve waited for more information about them.
As the months of secrecy progressed, we spotted Kim and Pete hanging out in a photo posted by American rapper Flavor Flav, who posted the photo in celebration of Pete’s birthday, where they wore matching pyjamas alongside Kim’s mother, Kris Jenner.
They were also papped seeing a movie in Staten Island, and taking a Bahamas holiday together. Although they weren’t confirming anything, they weren’t hiding anything either.
Finally, in March 2022, we got an Instagram post, not long after Kim was declared legally divorced from Kanye.
In a Carousel of images posted by Kim, the pair seemed to be hanging out in a hotel. One image had Pete laying with his head in Kim’s lap, and another had them close together, posing for the selfie.
The couple also finally made their red carpet debut at the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) Dinner, and Kim shared a slew of images of her and Pete to mark the occasion.
There was also their show-stopping Met Gala appearance and now the pair are rumoured to be spending time in Australia while Pete is here for a movie role.
And in a bizarre display of affection, Pete apparently has three tattoos dedicated to Kim. One reads “my girl is a lawyer”, which he got in celebration of her passing her first-year law exams. Another is a branding of her name on his chest, and another looks like the first letters of all her children’s names.
But it was all in vain, given the couple are pretty much officially over. We’re now waiting to see if poor Pete will have his tattoos removed, but given he has so many, he might just leave them.
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