Kim Kardashian files for divorce from Kanye West

Angeles - The couple have been married for almost seven years and have four children together.

Reality TV star Kim Kardashian has filed for divorce from rapper Kanye West after almost seven years of marriage, her publicist told AFP Friday.

The mega-celebrity couple’s divorce proceedings come just weeks after US media reported the pair were living separately and going through counseling dealing with “regular relationship issues.”

Celebrity gossip site TMZ — which broke the news Friday — said the separation was “as amicable as a divorce can be.”

Kardashian, 40, is asking for joint custody of the couple’s four children, it added, with her lawyer Laura Wasser reportedly handing in the divorce papers Friday.

Kardashian’s publicist confirmed the divorce filing but did not provide further details.

The pair, who married in a lavish ceremony in Italy two years later, rapidly became one of the world’s most instantly recognisable couples.

But their union has been dogged for months by reports in the gossip press that their marriage was on the rocks as West has battled with mental health issues and launched an improbable and controversial foray into US politics.

West, 43, has opened up about his struggles with bipolar disorder.

In July last year the mercurial entertainment mogul launched a bid for the US presidency with a rambling speech during which he revealed he had wanted to abort his daughter, and broke down in tears.

He also posted a series of tweets, later deleted, that accused his wife and mother-in-law of trying to lock him up, and suggested he was seeking a divorce.

Kardashian called on the media and public to show “compassion and empathy” following her husband’s erratic behaviour.

“Those that understand mental illness or even compulsive behaviour know that the family is powerless unless the member is a minor,” Kardashian said in her lengthy Instagram post in July.