Recently on the season 7 premiere of The Kardashians, Kim Kardashian opened up about the heavy emotional toll of her troubled marriage and acrimonious public divorce, which she believes has contributed to problems with her physical health.
Kardashian was married to Kanye “Ye” West from 2014 to 2021. The famous exes share four children, ages 12-5.
In this year’s opening episode of the popular reality streamer, Kardashian revealed that, based on a recent MRI, she’s been diagnosed with a brain aneurysm – a condition, she says, doctors told her could be due to severe stress.
Kardashian also said she’s suffering another flare-up of Psoriasis (an autoimmune condition affecting the skin) – the first one since her divorce.
Lately, she’s been “Pretty tested, I will say. Very tested….I mean, I have psoriasis again. I felt it. I mean, I felt more stressed, probably just because I had to super, super protect what I had to protect. My kids are involved now.”
She expressed that she feels the pressure of coparenting in the public eye – especially with an ex who has notorious outbursts, including antisemitic rants. Ye also claims that Kim prevents him from seeing their kids – an accusation she denies.
Kardashian says that for a long time, she suffered a version of “Stockholm syndrome” – feeling compelled to stand by and protect Ye, and wondering if she could have done more to help him or their marriage. She doesn’t feel that anymore.
Still, she knows her ex can never be completely out of her life because of their family. “People think I have the luxury of walking away and not dealing [with him] ever again…that’s not my reality. This person – we have four kids together.”
Asked how she copes with her ex’s erratic behavior, she says, “My poor kids….Everyone around can handle it, but…protect my babies.” She knows that, inevitably, the children will “know things. They’re gonna grow up, they’re gonna see. So my job as a mom is to just make sure that — at a time when that behavior is happening — is just to make sure that they’re protected.”
On Sickness and On Health
Following the Kardashian health story, CBS News consulted several doctors to find out whether stress can cause an aneurysm (localized enlargement of an artery due to weakening of the artery wall).
Dr. Brian Snelling, director of cerebrovascular and endovascular neurosurgery and director of the stroke program at Marcus Neuroscience Institute, and Dr. Greg Albers, co-founder of health platform RapidAI and director of the Stanford Stroke Center, both told CBS that stress, on its own, is not proven to create an aneurysm.
“The real culprits are genetics, elevated blood pressure, smoking, and age-related changes in the arteries,” Snelling said.
However, both physicians affirmed that stress can raise blood pressure; elevated blood pressure is “related to aneurysm formation and growth,” and can make a person more vulnerable to one.
Dr. David Sbarra, a professor of Psychology at the University of Arizona College of Science, researches the effects of marital separation.
For a recent article on MDLinx, Dr Sbarra discussed the mental and physical impacts of a marriage falling apart. He explained that “the effects of divorce can sometimes be felt long before official legal proceedings even begin.”
“Divorce is a shorthand term for the process of dissolution that begins well before the physical separation and legal proceedings.” He advises physicians to be on the lookout for signs of interpersonal distress, including depressive episodes, substance use, and sleep disturbance.
Naturally, divorce is difficult, complicated, and painful. But Dr. Sbarra notes that while most people get through divorce with resilience, about 10-15% experience serious distress.
“The physical health correlates of marital separation and divorce are comparable to other public health risk factors,” Sbarra says. “A number of papers report significantly elevated blood pressure, exaggerated inflammatory responses, and risk for early death.”
In the same article, Carla Marie Manly, PhD, a California-based clinical psychologist and author, concurs that divorce stress can have serious impacts on physical health.
“It is well-known that stress—whether from a dysfunctional marriage, negative work environment, or toxic family dynamics—is destructive to both psychological and physical health. Research has long shown that chronic stress is correlated with decreased cardiovascular health, diabetes, and hypertension.”
Further, MDLinx reports, a 2024 meta-analysis found that compared to married people, divorced people “experience more physical symptoms and have significantly worse self-reported health.” The same study also revealed that divorced individuals have a higher risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular conditions, diabetes, and joint pathologies.
Serious Side Effects
A recent study, published in Frontiers in Psychology, which examined health impacts immediately following divorce, found poorer mental and physical health in recent divorcees compared to the general population, and examined diverse factors (initiating the divorce, income level, number of children, new partner, previous divorces, and so on) that influence both physical and emotional outcomes in men versus women.
Notably, however, the study found that one specific factor had a major impact on men and women alike: conflict.
“Across gender, higher levels of divorce conflict were found to predict worse mental health, even when accounting for other socio-demographic variables and divorce characteristics,” said Dr Søren Sander, an author of the study.
Whether or not Kardashian’s divorce stress and conflict levels can be definitely linked to a brain aneurysm, no question keeping a divorce as smooth and amicable as possible helps ease strain for all involved.
The experienced family law attorneys at SFLG are experienced in all aspects of divorce, including high-conflict cases. We help clients navigate complex and stressful circumstances, shielding children from conflict and getting to the best possible outcomes as seamlessly as possible.
By Debra Schoenberg
