After public attacks and zero communication, one man lays bare Kim Kardashian's turmoil at coparenting with Kanye West - and how the A-list exes have finally turned a corner

Stifling a laugh, Kim Kardashian, dressed in a blue wig and wearing black teeth grills, made a video call.The reality star, 46, complete with face dermal piercings and long studded black nails, had transformed herself into her teenage daughter North West for Halloween.And the person receiving the call? Her ex-husband Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.'Miss North West!' shouted the rapper as he answered the call last month. A giggling Kardashian replied: 'No, it's Kim!'Clearly shocked by the prank, Ye, 49, could be heard laughing before responding: ‘Oh my...!’The viral video clip offered a rare glimpse into the exes’ relationship today, a dynamic that has been tested by a messy divorce and his very public mental health breakdown both of which left them communicating via managers and lawyers. Author Jonathan Van Meter has shed new light on Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's coparenting dynamic in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail (pictured together 2020) The former spouses gave fans a rare glimpse into their lives after sharing a video of Kardashian pranking Ye when she dressed up as their daughter North West (pictured) for Halloween (Source: Instagram/ Kim Kardashian)Witnessing what was going on behind the scenes was author Jonathan Van Meter who has now given the Daily Mail unprecedented insight into their evolving relationship and how they have found a way to coparent amicably.'My sense is that today it's going much better, that there was a period when it felt impossible and now [Ye's] more involved,' Van Meter said.The journalist and author, 63, has known the Kardashian family for a decade and recently published Citizen Kim: The Woman Who Created the Future, a biography about Kardashian which came about after he penned a Vogue cover story about the reality star-turned-actress in 2019.Spending around five years with the SKIMS founder – predominantly at the $60 million Hidden Hills home she once shared with her ex – Van Meter witnessed firsthand Ye's changing and, at times, volatile behavior.'It was always a given that I was going to interview him [for the book] from the very beginning, and then slowly but surely it became less and less,' Van Meter told us.'[Kim] always said, "Of course. Yes, of course he'll talk to you."'Somebody that works for Tracy [Romulus, Ye's former publicist] that's known Kanye for years said, "Oh, he's so charming. You'll love him. He'll talk for six hours straight." But this is all before things went so haywire.'The former A-list couple, who share four children - North, 13, Saint, 10, Chicago, eight, and Psalm, seven - were married for nearly seven years before Kardashian filed for divorce, following years of escalating rumors of unrest. The former A-list couple, who share four children - North, 13, Saint, 10, Chicago, eight, and Psalm, seven - were married for nearly seven years before Kardashian filed for divorce in 2021 Van Meter told the Daily Mail: 'My sense is that today it's going much better, that there was a period when it felt impossible and now he's more involved' (Ye pictured with their children earlier this month)Ye's public support for and meeting with President Trump in 2016 reportedly caused tension in their marriage, rumors that were exacerbated when Kardashian attended the 2017 Met Gala alone.In Citizen Kim, Van Meter described ‘bumpy moments throughout their marriage,’ and said ‘the wheels finally came off in 2020.’ According to Van Meter, by the summer of 2021, 'Kim was home with the kids 24-7' while Ye was either at his Wyoming ranch or a rented beachfront mansion in the Dominican Republic. 'It was obvious their marriage was in trouble,' he wrote.It was around this time that Ye accused Kardashian of having him hospitalized.'Kim was trying to fly to Wyoming with a doctor to lock me up like on the movie Get Out because I cried about saving my daughter's life yesterday,' he said in a series of since-deleted tweets.Kardashian later addressed how ‘incredibly complicated and painful it is to understand’ his bipolar disorder as she asked for 'compassion and empathy' for her family.Despite reportedly attempting couples therapy, Kardashian filed for divorce in February 2021. It was finalized in November 2022. The pair were awarded joint legal and physical custody with the children primarily residing with The Kardashians star.Although both waived spousal support, Ye was ordered to pay the mother-of-four $200,000 per month in child support.But theirs was not to be an easy transition from marriage to coparenting. For in late 2022, Ye posted vile antisemitic rants on Twitter, leading to major brands like Adidas cutting ties with him. Kardashian condemned his comments. Their divorce was finalized in 2022 and they both were awarded joint legal and physical custody with the children primarily residing with The Kardashians star In his Kardashian biography, Citizen Kim, Van Meter described how Kardashian had to 'communicate through’ Ye’s manager or his now wife Censori as relations between them had soured (pictured togetgher in 2020)Van Meter was supposed to talk to Ye for the book, but he told the Daily Mail it ‘became trickier’ when ‘their marriage started to fall apart and then it became impossible because of the antisemitic rants and meltdowns.’Recalling a conversation with Kardashian, Van Meter said: ‘At one point, I said, "I don't think this is going to happen, right?" And she said, "I don't think so."'I said, "Actually, I don't think it should happen. I think it's kind of unethical to interview somebody in the midst of a mental health crisis."'Van Meter said his last in-person interview with Kardashian took place in the summer of 2024 at her $70.4 million Malibu mansion, which she purchased in 2022.It was a conversation about her continued frustrations at how to navigate coparenting with Ye, who has been dating Australian designer Bianca Censori, 31, since around 2022. The pair secretly wed in a private ceremony that December.'It was on a Sunday, I was going to [Kardashian's] house and things weren't going great then,' Van Meter recalled of the conversation. 'And then she said to me, "I invite [Ye] and his wife for Christmas, and I tell him he can come stay at the house and I'll go somewhere else if he wants to just be with the kids, and he never takes me up on it."'In Citizen Kim, Van Meter described how Kardashian had to 'communicate through his wife [Censori] or through his friend who is also his manager.''One such moment of Kim “communicating” with her ex-husband happened when I was at her house,’ he recalled in his book. ‘She took a phone call from someone on Team Kanye, perhaps Bianca herself, and so began a half-hour-long text negotiation of a somewhat rare handoff of the children for a visit with their father.’ Van Meter, who resides in New York, spent five years interviewing subjects and spending time with the reality star for his book Van Meter told the Daily Mail that Kardashian has always invited Ye and Censori over to stay at her house during the holidays. They finally took her up on her offer during Christmas 2025 (Ye and Censori pictured together in 2024) Although he has yet to meet Kardashian's new boyfriend Lewis Hamilton, 41, Van Meter is 'really happy for her because it seems like she's finally with somebody who has the same combination of kindness and flashiness that she does' (Pictured together on November 4)Kardashian explained it was 'challenging coparenting with someone who comes by every few months,' and how she had to 'make up stories' to protect her kids because they think 'their dad is the greatest.'Van Meter told the Daily Mail that he has a feeling that relations have since 'improved,' with Ye taking up his ex-wife’s Christmas offer a year later in December 2025.'I remember she told me a story about them putting their heads together,' Van Meter told us. 'This is probably sometime this year... I think I was almost finished with the book and we would get on the phone and talk a lot.'She said something like, "Kanye called the other day and said, Well, we should make these kinds of decisions about North together. Let's do it together." She was like, "Oh, okay."'He continued: 'I just got the feeling that she was glad that he was reengaging and wanted to do it together, make decisions together on opportunities for [North] - that kind of thing.'Kardashian has since moved on with British Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton after the longtime friends took their relationship to the next level earlier this year.Although he has yet to meet Hamilton, 41, Van Meter is 'really happy for [Kardashian] because it seems like she's finally with somebody who has the same combination of kindness and flashiness that she does.''She's such a sweetheart,' he said. 'She's such a nice person, and I think some of the guys she's been with haven't been exactly... You wouldn't describe them as nice.'But he just emanates warmth. But he's also really flashy and they look good together.'The Daily Mail has contacted representative’s for Ye and Kardashian for comment.