Kim Kardashian vs Kanye West and the battle to break the internet

The tweet is on, says Susannah Butter
Power couple: Kanye West and Kim Kardashian West

As Kanye West sang: “No one man should have all that power.” Sometimes you have to share it with your wife. This week Kim Kardashian West took the limelight from the rapper. She didn’t even get dressed. All she had to tweet was a naked selfie, captioned: “When you’re like I have nothing to wear LOL.” And with one picture she broke the internet again. Kim has 41 million Twitter followers, more than double her husband’s 20 million. So how do they measure up?

The komebacks

Kim gives pithy riposte. When Piers Morgan referred to her husband’s debt and asked if she wanted him to buy her an outfit, she quipped: “Never offer to buy a married woman clothes. thats on some Ashley Madison type shit.” She took on Bette Midler who said, “If Kim wants to see a part of her we’ve never seen, she’s gonna have to swallow the camera,” replying: “It’s past your bedtime but if you’re still up send nudes #justkidding.” When Chloe Grace Moretz told her she wasn’t a good role model she made a sassy observation: “No one knows who [Moretz] is.”

Kanye is less concise — his reply to rapper Wiz Khalifa’s barb that his new album isn’t “wavy” was a prolific rant. Yesterday his tweets took a different tone with messages about IKEA being inspiring and an apology for “being confusing”. Must be the strain of Paris Fashion Week.

The kollaboration

Despite Kanye saying “I am my soulmate”, he cares about his wife. She’s the only person he follows on Twitter. His reaction to yesterday’s antics has been to tweet: “Why you got no clothes on Kim???” Did Kanye ask her this in public because he doesn’t like slow texters or is it a ruse because he’s actually writing Kim’s tweets? There are similarities including them both sending mysterious messages late at night — that can’t be just because they have young children who wake them up. Kim denies it: “I can’t believe people thought Kanye or Khloe hacked my Twitter. I’m funny too!!!”

An unnamed source told People magazine that “Kanye’s compulsive tweeting ... causes friction”. But she keeps up. When he discussed anal play with ex Amber Rose she kept it klassy, sharing a selfie of her and Rose captioned “Tea anyone?” She’s the UN peace corps of Kanye’s empire Anyway, she announced last night that she’s on Snapchat now — Twitter? Whatevs.

The konfidence

I’ve seen more of Kim’s naked hips than my own, but she’s made it known that behind the bod is a successful businesswoman supporting her husband: “Sorry I’m late to the party I was busy cashing my 80 million video game check & transferring 53 million to our joint account.”

But could sharing naked photos be the only way to win attention when you are married to rap’s biggest ego? A typical message from Kanye is: “This is not album of the year. This is album of the life.” He gives advice, too — an enigmatic message last night was: “The pure of heart win.” He admitted he had been on the Hennessy.

Kim Kardashian West's most revealing numbers yet

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The krews

The Kardashian krew is behind Kim. Kylie tweeted: “Kim is a legend”. Kanye divides opinion. His momager-in-law, Kris Jenner, said that his tweets can: “Come out not exactly the right way and then it’s complicated.” Meanwhile Kim’s sister Kylie is rebelling against her mother and said this week: “I want everyone to know how much I live for @kanyewest’s tweets”.

Follow Susannah Butter on Twitter: @susannahbutter

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