Hell hath no fury like Kanye West scorned – just ask Kim Kardashian, who’s staring down the barrel of another failed relationship, all thanks to her ex-husband. The disgraced rapper has made no bones about his anger and apathy towards anyone Kim has dated since they split in 2021, even going so far as to publicly harass her ex-boyfriend, Pete Davidson, whom she coupled up with shortly after their marriage ended. Now, we’re told that – despite that fact that Kanye has moved on with “wife” Bianca Censori – he’s raging at news that Kim has started dating American football player Odell Beckham Jr and is using his casual friendship with Odell to try and sabotage any burgeoning romance. And while the football star isn’t paying heed to Kanye’s attempts, it’s still having a devastating effect on Kim and her future happiness.

“Kanye has Odell’s direct number and has wasted no time in barraging him with messages about Kim,” says an insider close to the rapper, who’s previously been pictured taking his and Kim’s oldest children, North, ten, and Saint, seven, to watch Odell play for his NFL team, the Baltimore Ravens (Kanye and Kim also share Chicago, five, and Psalm, four). “But Kanye isn’t threatening Odell, he’s actually being much sneakier and acting like he’s just out to warn him. He’s saying all kinds of vile things about Kim and telling Odell how she’ll ruin him. It’s so twisted because Kanye’s whole goal is still to get Kim back by making it so that no one will date her.”

Kim, 42, herself has kept quiet over her and Odell’s fledgling relationship, but rumour is they were first spotted together at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Los Angeles together as far back as May. She had previously attended his 30th birthday last November, when he was still with his ex-girlfriend, Lauren Wood, who’s mum to his one-year-old son, Zyd. And while a representative for Kim has said she’s not “seriously dating anyone” right now, that hasn’t stopped insiders reporting that the rumoured new couple are enjoying “hanging out” and getting to know each other better. Having previously had a penchant for dating athletes – she was in a relationship with former NFL player Reggie Bush from 2007 to 2010 and was also married from 2011 to 2013 to basketball player Kris Humphries – Kim is apparently keen to see where things go with Odell. But, if Kanye has anything to do with it, that will be a short road to nowhere.

“For all his delusions of grandeur, Kanye can’t stop fixating on the life he’s left behind,” says an insider close to the 46 year old, who – after splitting from Kim – had an almighty fall from grace last year, and lost several multimillion dollar commercial deals, after launching a series of shocking antisemitic attacks on Twitter. “There’s no way he’s going to sit back and allow Kim to move on without poking his oar in. That’s just the way he is – he’s obsessed with keeping tabs on her. He’ll tell people that she’s the mother of his kids and he has a duty to protect them by knowing what she’s up to at all times. He’s constantly pestering their mutual friends and members of staff to pass on information, and he’s even asking their kids what mum’s been up to and who she’s been hanging out with. He got the tip-off about her and Odell fairly early on and he didn’t waste any time in trying to torpedo it.”

Despite being hellbent on not letting Kim find love again, Kanye hasn’t wasted any time in moving on himself. Over the past few months, he’s drawn shock and criticism over his increasingly outrageous public appearances with Australian architect Bianca, who reportedly wed the rapper in a non-binding ceremony in January. Earlier this month, the couple were slammed for engaging in an “obscene act” on a boat in Venice – with Kanye exposing himself, trousers down, as Bianca appeared to have her head nestled in his lap. But while he seems to want to convey the message that he’s well and truly over Kim, his actions towards her tell another story.

After splitting from Kanye in 2021, Kim began dating former Saturday Night Live star Pete – sparking unbridled fury in her ex-husband. Shortly after they got together, Kanye started trolling Pete (whom he called “Skete”) on social media, even alleging he had AIDS and doctoring a newspaper headline to read “Skete Davidson Dead at Age 28”. He also released a music video portraying an animated version of himself kidnapping and decapitating a character who looked undeniably like Pete. Kim and Pete ended their nine-month relationship in August 2022, and the comedian has since said he needed “trauma therapy” – in large part – due to his dealings with Kanye during that time. Kim, meanwhile, has said on The Kardashians that she felt “a lot of guilt” while dating the comedian because of what he went through. She’s also slammed her ex-husband’s treatment towards her, telling her mum, Kris Jenner, on their reality series that Kanye planted rumours that she’d cheated on him with singer Drake while they were still together.

“The one that was supposed to protect me – and still does interviews saying they will be my forever protector – is the one that’s hurting me the most,” she said, referencing Kanye. “He was the one that started a rumour that said I was hooking up with Drake, having an affair. Our whole marriage, he accused me of that publicly. I really can’t wrap my head around how he thinks he is a protector.”
Now, we’re told, Kim is doing her best to ignore Kanye’s meddling – and her new man, Odell, is doing the same. But, as much as she tries to move on, she knows that Kanye will put every effort in to scupper her attempts. “At the end of the day, everyone knows what’s really going on here,” says our source. “Kanye is still clearly obsessed with Kim and he can’t let her go, even after all this time. And that’s very sad – for her and for the people in her life.”