Well, that was then and this is now: On Feb. 14 (Valentine’s Day, no less!), E! reported that “Juliye” had called it quits. “Julia and Kanye remain good friends and collaborators,” a Fox rep said in a statement, “but they are no longer together.” The 44-year-old hip-hop star and the 31-year-old actress made their first red carpet appearance together in Italy, at Men’s Fashion Week, less than a month before their breakup news surfaced, but the relationship never made much sense to fans, who wondered if West was simply trying to exact revenge on estranged wife Kim Kardashian after she started dating Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson in October 2021—especially because Fox and Kardashian certainly seem to have the same taste in style. (One of “Juliye”’s matching ensembles was oddly similar to Kardashian’s own 2021 Met Gala look; another time, Fox was seen in the same Balenciaga thigh-high boots Kardashian famously wore.) There were even conspiracy theories that both relationships were just an elaborate scheme cooked up by Davidson and Fox, who had met in 2019 for a strange PAPER magazine shoot where they posed as Ken and Barbie. “It’s funny to see where people go with their conspiracy theories," Fox said at the time. “We were all connected, like even prior. You know what I mean?" Still, during her time with Ye, Fox had been insisting on the record that what they had together was very real. “I feel like, to the people who know us both personally, like all the people that we have in common, like friends in common, have texted me like, ‘Oh my God, this makes so much sense,’” she claimed on her podcast. So what do we know about the relationship between Kanye West and Julia Fox? Did they really find love in a matter of mere days? Was it just a fling? Keep reading to find out more about Fox’s past as a “NYC’s hottest muse” and a dominatrix, how West gave her a “Cinderella moment,” whether she dated him for his money, and whether West is really over Kardashian.

Who is Kanye West’s ex-girlfriend, Julia Fox?

Even though she was in the 2019 film Uncut Gems with Adam Sandler–her first film role–and called a bombshell by Vogue, Fox wasn’t exactly a household name until she began dating West. As of late, the 31-year-old is an actress and a podcaster. However, she’s also been a clothing designer, a dominatrix, photographer, a poet, an author of two art books and she’s directed a short film called Fantasy Girls. Fox was born in Milan, Italy, but returned to New York City with her father and one younger brother, while her Italian mother stayed in Italy with another younger brother. Her family moved all over the city; according to her, she and her family were “homeless at one point.” By 14, she already had a fake ID and was partying on the NYC social scene. At 15, she had a boyfriend who was a drug dealer and she overdosed at 17 (she has been clean for years). While still in high school, she became a dominatrix. “I had heard about another girl who was doing it and that there was no sex and no nudity," she once explained to The Hollywood Reporter. “It was all role-playing, and I was like, ‘I can do that. I can act. I can put on an outfit,’ you know? I did it, and it was great. I really credit it when people ask me, ‘Oh, have you ever acted before?’” A 2014 Elle article called Fox “NYC’s hottest muse.” “I photographed Julia all the time, she was my muse. She was into drugs, she was crazy, but everyone liked her,” one source says. “She hung around the Lower East Side. Her culture was the bars, the graffiti scene, the nightlife. She was making clothing with her friends and modeling for artists.” After leaving the party life behind, eventually she met up with Benny and Josh Safdie, who directed Uncut Gems. “Even though they’d been talking to me about this role for years—and I helped them develop the character—when the big studios got involved and they were putting millions of dollars into it, obviously the studios wanted an established actress, a Jennifer Lawrence or a Scarlett Johansson,” Fox recalled in an interview. “They wanted someone big, so I had to fight for it. I did a screen test with Adam [Sandler], and our chemistry was really good. He was so fun to work with. But they auditioned 300 people. Benny and Josh really had to fight for me. At first, Scott Rudin, the producer, was like, ‘No.’ When he saw the tape of the test I’d done with Adam, he was like, ‘Alright, I trust you guys.’ Apparently he doesn’t like anybody, and he loved me.” Fox has since been seen in Steven Soderbergh’s No Sudden Move, alongside Don Cheadle and Benicio Del Toro. In addition to a possible role in Madonna’s biopic (she and West hung out with Madame X this month), she is also slated to play Hollywood hairdresser Carrie Whitein the upcoming film about her life.

How did Kanye West meet Julia Fox?

The two met on New Year’s Eve 2021, supposedly at the rapper’s own New Year’s Eve party. “I met Ye in Miami on New Year’s Eve and it was an instant connection,” she wrote in Interview. “His energy is so fun to be around. He had me and my friends laughing, dancing, and smiling all night.”  Fox says that the two flew back to New York City to see Slave Play, the provocative show where “three interracial couples are tasked with role-playing white-black, master-slave relationships as a way to make sense of how their racial identities factor into their sex and personal lives.” The two then grabbed dinner at the restaurant Carbone and West pulled out a camera for impromptu photo shoot with Fox right there in the swank eatery. Fox was most impressed with West’s punctuality and what she called a “Cinderella moment” West gave her: He filled an entire hotel suite with designer clothing. “It was every girl’s dream come true. It felt like a real Cinderella moment. I don’t know how he did it, or how he got all of it there in time. But I was so surprised. Like, who does things like this on a second date? Or any date!” Turns out, West does things like that. “That’s how I bagged [Kim Kardashian] in the first place,” he revealed in November 2021.“I pulled up, I had the Balmains and the jackets and stuff.”

Who has Julia Fox dated?

Fox freely admits “I had this ‘daddy’ phase… I had an older boyfriend for six years, and yeah, he was rich. But like, it wasn’t a sugar daddy… I’ve never done anything like that.” She insists that she was in love with the older man, saying, “All of a sudden I have Mercedes Benz and Chanel coming out of my a** and [people thought] either, oh, I have a sugar daddy, or I’m a prostitute. No one ever considers the fact that no, maybe we were in love… I have his name tattooed on my finger.” Her most recent relationship before Kanye was with pilot Peter Artemiev, whom she married in 2018. They were separated by 2020, friendly at first, but by Christmas things soured. She called him a “deadbeat alcoholic dad” in Instagram Stories that have expired. “This man left me with a 5-month-old and a dog and a home and ALL THE BILLS. It’s wrong!!! It’s not fair.” She later apologized, and they seem to have reconciled, and she posted pictures of all three of them on their son’s birthday. 

Is Kanye West married?

West married Kardashian in 2014 in Florence, Italy, after dating for three years. However, in February 2021, she filed for divorce; she is currently seeking joint custody of their children.

Who did Julia Fox have a baby with?

Fox has one child; her son Valentino just turned 1 year old! Her pregnancy had some last-minute complications, which meant she had to quickly take the only photos of her pregnancy at home. “These photos were taken by my sis @richieshazam right after my gyno told me I would need to go have my baby early cuz of some blood pressure issues,” she wrote alongside the snap. “I ran home in a panic cause I still hadn’t taken any pics but my girls came thru for me.” Right after the pictures were taken, she delivered Valentino on January 17, 2021. Valentino’s first birthday party was recently held at the swanky Lucien restaurant in NYC. West shares two daughters and two sons with Kardashian: Daughters North and Chicago are 8-years-old and 4-years-old, respectively, and sons Saint and Psalm are 6 and 2. 

Is Kanye in love with Kim still?

Many fans remember how adamant West has been about reconciling with his ex-wife and wonder if he still wants her back. As recently as December 2021, he was still eager for a reunion with Kardashian, changing words in his song “Runaway” onstage to say “I need you to run right back, baby, more specifically, Kimberly” while she sat in the audience.  He doesn’t seem to like Kardashian’s new relationship with Davidson, nor how she treated him at the start of it. “How you gonna bring me to SNL and kiss the guy you’re dating?” West said in an interview, referencing the night that he was in the audience during the October 2021 Saturday Night Live taping where Kardashian kissed Davidson during an Aladdin sketch. His recent song “Eazy,” released in 2022, doesn’t seem to support the theory that he’s fully over his ex either. He mentions “beating Pete’s Davidson’s a**” and complains about Kardashian hiring nannies for his children: “I got love for the nannies, but real family is better. The cameras watch the kids, y’all stop takin’ the credit.” This month he also recorded a worried video about how Kardashian was keeping him from Chicago’s birthday and wouldn’t give him the address of the party (he eventually made it there, however). West admitted in a recent interview there are “problems on both sides,” and says he and Kim don’t want to go “full Will and Jada.” Still, he’s even suggested that Kardashian had another sex tape with ex-boyfriend Ray J, and that he showed her the footage after the fateful SNL appearance. Kardashian, for her part, just wants to move forward. As her rep put it in a statement, “After 20 years, she truly wishes to move on from this chapter.” Next, Kravis Forever! Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker Are Engaged—See the Ring and Photos From the Sweet Moment! 

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