As recently as a month and a half ago, Kanye West had serious doubts about the future of his marriage to Kim Kardashian.
In a new interview with The New York Times, the rapper revealed that he had a "real conversation" about the possibility of a divorce over controversial remarks he made during an unfiltered appearance on TMZ Live. In May, West sparked widespread backlash when he said slavery was a choice, a statement he also told the NYT was taken out of context.
As Kanye recalled, "There was a moment where I felt like after TMZ, maybe a week after that, I felt like the energy levels were low, and I called different family members and was asking, you know, ‘Was Kim thinking about leaving me after TMZ?' So that was a real conversation."
Kim and Kanye's marital trouble never played out publicly, as the E! reality star defended her husband on social media and stood by his side throughout the release of his latest studio album, Ye.
"Kim and Kanye have a solid relationship, even with what's going on right now," a source shared with E! News at the time. "She loves and supports her husband. Even if they have differences in views and opinions, she knows his heart."
In regards to the public's response to his apparent position on slavery, the hip-hop star had this to say: "I said the idea of sitting in something for 400 years sounds—sounds—like a choice to me, I never said it's a choice. I never said slavery itself—like being shackled in chains—was a choice. That's why I went from slave to 400 years to mental prison to this and that. If you look at the clip you see the way my mind works."
On "Wouldn't Leave," West alludes to Kardashian's immediate reaction to the TMZ interview. Additionally, he raps about contemplating suicide, which he told the The New York Times was not just an artistic metaphor.
"Oh yeah," he confessed, "I've thought about killing myself all the time. It's always [an] option and [expletive]. Like Louis C.K. said: I flip through the manual. I weigh all the options."
"I'm just having this epiphany now, 'cause I didn't do it, but I did think it all the way through. But if I didn't think it all the way through, then it's actually maybe more of a chance of it happening," West said.
Read the entire interview with West here.