What Happened Between Julia Fox & Kanye West? Their Relationship & Split Explained
Less than one year after Kim Kardashian filed for divorce from Kanye West, the rapper was romantically linked to Julia Fox. The two were first spotted celebrating New Year’s Eve together at the end of 2021, and a whirlwind relationship followed.
Scroll down for a refresher on West and Fox’s relationship and to get the lowdown on why things ended between them. Plus, where do they stand now?
How long did Kanye West and Julia Fox date?
West and Fox dated for less than two months. A rep for Fox confirmed their split to Us Weekly in February 2022. “Julia and Kanye remain good friends and collaborators, but they are no longer together,” the rep shared.
After meeting when West got Fox’s number from a mutual friend, the two were hot and heavy during their time together, and Fox confirmed on the Call Her Daddy podcast that they referred to each other as boyfriend and girlfriend. Fox also denied that the relationship was a PR stunt.
“I feel like, to the people who know us both personally, like, all the people that we have in common, like, friends in common, have texted me like, ‘Oh, my God, this makes so much sense,'” Fox said on the Forbidden Fruits podcast. “There’s always people that think every single celebrity scandal is a setup. I personally don’t.” She also added, “People are like ‘Oh, you’re only in it for the fame, you’re in it for the clout, you’re in it for the money.’ Honey, I’ve dated billionaires my entire adult life, let’s keep it real.”
Fox called their romance an “instant natural organic attraction and connection.”
What happened between Julia Fox and Kanye West?
In November 2022, Fox revealed that she ended her relationship with West when he started posting controversial messages on social media (again). “We only talked about clothes and weird ideas and plans for the future and our hopes and dreams for childhood and education,” she revealed, before noting that she was “out” once West returned to social media.
“I was delusional and thought I could help him, but it didn’t work, and now we’re here, but that being said, I really deeply respect the man as an artist,” she shared. “I don’t want to s**t on that. I don’t want to reduce his whole career to his really bad moments.”
Fox also told ES magazine that West’s lifestyle wasn’t “sustainable” for her, explaining, “Real life set in and the lifestyle wasn’t sustainable. I couldn’t fly away once a week. And I tapped out at the first sign of a red flag.”
The model noted that West was dealing with “unresolved issues” following his divorce from Kardashian. “It just seems like he had a lot to work on, and I just don’t have time for it, or energy,” she admitted. ” I don’t have the bandwidth or emotional capacity for it. I’m proud of myself for that.”
After more time had passed, Fox told The Times in 2024 that she now “regrets” her relationship with West. “I hate it! It was only a few weeks, but enough to last me a lifetime,” she shared. “I was in probably the most uncomfortable position in my life, and that’s saying a lot. I don’t want to be known for being anyone’s girlfriend.”
Did Julia Fox write about Kanye West in her book?
Yes, Fox wrote extensively about her relationship with West in her 2023 memoir, Down the Drain. She revealed that they talked over text and via “hours-long” phone calls before their New Year’s Eve meeting.
“He very bluntly asks me, ‘Would you want to be my girlfriend?’” Fox wrote. “I instantly burst out laughing. He can’t be serious. A photographer circles the table, snapping candid photos of us midsentence. He follows up with: ‘How would you feel about taking our relationship public?’”
Fox revealed that she shared this story with Interview magazine at the time, but the version she told then was amended from what she originally submitted. The final version was written on a three-way call with herself, West, and his assistant.
In the book, Fox recalled waking up to “dozens of missed calls and texts” from West after their first night together. She said they spent the day in his hotel room “playing Uno and a game that involves highlighting positive words in the dictionary and coming to the realization that there aren’t many.”
Fox also opened up about West redoing her entire wardrobe, including an instance where he called her stylists in the middle of a date so they could bring new outfit options because he didn’t like what she was wearing. She also wrote that the rapper, whom she referred to as “the artist” in her memoir, offered to buy her a boob job.
The offer “sticks to me like a piece of lint on my clothes, and I can’t shake off the uncomfortable feeling,” she admitted.
And while Fox has said that the relationship wasn’t a publicity stunt on her end, she revealed that she began feeling like it was for West, who she said was only affectionate with her when cameras were on. “As we post like puppets, I question his true intentions, feeling that this grand gesture is nothing more than a publicity stunt,” she shared. “I’m disconnected from the moment. I try to find gratitude for the lavish gifts, but the feeling of insincerity lingers.”
Fox concluded the story by revealing that the pair’s breakup took place over the phone. She said she initiated the call after her 32nd birthday, during which she said he was “distant and preoccupied.” She also recalled him making her “recreate” moments from the big day to post on social media. Fox said tensions rose between the former couple when West wanted to leave her party to go to another one, and she reluctantly went with him.
However, despite Fox being the one to bring up ending the relationship, West had his own bombshell to throw into the conversation. “He calls, and we speak on the phone one last time. He tells me he had a good conversation with his soon-to-be-ex-wife [Kardashian] and discovered a lot of information about me,” Fox wrote. “‘I didn’t know you were a drug addict,’ he says, as if I duped him. ‘I told you! Maybe if you listened more. And not to mention, so were you!’ At this point, I’m yelling.”
She said she hung up on West after he allegedly told her, “You said you wouldn’t embarrass me,” after which she told her publicist to alert the media that the two had split.
