Pete Davidson: who is Kim Kardashian’s boyfriend, how long have they been dating - Kanye West row explained

After splitting from her husband of nearly seven years, reality TV star Kim Kardashian started dating Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson back in October last year, much to the disapproval of Kanye West.

This seemingly random pairing left everyone with lots of questions - like who is the SNL star, and how do he and Kardashian even know each other?

Davidson returned to stand up comedy for the first time in three years on Thursday (28 April) for his stint at the Netflix Is A Joke: The Festival in Hollywood.

During his set, Davidson made references to West, Kardashian and the fairly bizarre online fued between himself and his girlfriend’s ex-husband.

This is everything you need to know.

Who is Pete Davidson - and how old is he?

Davidson is an American comedian, best known as a current cast member on the late night sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL). He is currently 28 years old.

He was born on 16 November 1993, to father Scott Matthew Davidson and mother Amy Davidson (née Waters).

Davidson’s father was a New York City firefighter who died during the September 11 2001 attacks, when Davidson was seven-years-old.

As a teenager, he was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease which he requires intravenous treatment for. Crohn’s disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease

After high school, Davidson attended the St Francis College in Brooklyn Heights for one semester before dropping out to pursue a career in comedy.

He joined the SNL cast in 2014 and the following year garnered praise as a roaster in the 2015 Comedy Central Roast of Justin Bieber.

In 2016, he featured on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, and that same year he filmed his first stand up special Pete Davidson: SMD.

Davidson then released his second stand up special in 2020, called Alive from New York on Netflix.

He has also appeared in films and TV shows including The Freak Brothers, The Suicide Squad, The King of Staten Island and Angry Birds Movie 2.

Is he dating Kim Kardashian?

Since Keeping Up With the Kardashians star Kim Kardashian split from Kanye West, she and Davidson have officially been dating.

Speculation around whether the SNL star was dating Kardasian was initially sparked after the two were spotted holding hands at theme park Knott’s Scary Farm in California back in October.

They were joined by Kardashian’s sister Kourtney and her fiance Travis Baker, who knows Davidson via their mutual friend Machine Gun Kelly.

Since then, the couple have made their relationship official to the public.

Towards the end of last year, Davidson referred to Kardashian as his girlfriend for the first time.

In an interview with People TV in which he talked about his fame, Davidson said: “I don’t really have Instagram - I don’t have Instagram or Twitter or any of that stuff. So, most of my daily life is getting into cars and showing up to a set.

“Or, if I’m off, I just either hang with my friends or chill with my girlfriend inside. So I don’t do much.”

Kardashian told the Ellen DeGeneres show that Davidson had her name branded onto his chest as “he wanted to do something that was really different”.

As well as the branding, Davidson also has numerous tattoos dedicated to his new girlfriend. Kardashian said that her favourite one says “My girl is a lawyer”, referring to the fact that she is studying to be a lawyer.

She announced in December last year that she passed the “baby bar” which is the first of two exams required to qualify in the state of California.

The pair made their red carpet debut as a couple when they attended the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

The event in Washington DC on Saturday has been held annually since 1921 by the White House Correspondents’ Association, which represents journalists who cover the White House and the US president.

The dinner, held at the Washington Hilton hotel, was also attended by President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden.

The event returned for the first time since 2019 after being cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Kardashian posted a selection of images of herself and Davidson, 28, on Instagram, with the caption: “White House din din.”

She was dressed in a floor-length silver gown, while Davidson accompanied her in black tie and dark sunglasses.

Kardashian recently revealed that viewers will find out the details of her romance with Davidson in The Kardashians, which began airing on Disney+ last month.

In an interview with Variety, she said that although Davidson will not physically feature in the first series of the new show, viewers will find out “how we met, and who reached out to who and how it happened and all the details that everyone wants to know”.

Davidson has also recently debuted a tattoo on his neck that appears to be a reference to Kardashian’s children.

He was photographed with a tattoo on his neck which seems to read “KNSCP”, which could refer to Kardashian and her children, North, 8, Saint, 6, Chicago, 4, and Psalm, 2.

Who has he dated in the past?

Davidson and Bridgerton star Phoebe Dynevor briefly dated earlier this year, with rumours of their romance first surfacing in February.

The two were spotted together in the UK at the start of the year, and also attended Wimbledon together in July, however they split in August.

Davidson also was in a long term relationship Cazzie David, the daughter of comedian Larry David, in 2016. They dated for two years before breaking up in 2018.

Directly after he and David broke up, Davidson started seeing pop star Ariana Grande, and following a whirlwind romance the pair were engaged within a few weeks. However, they didn’t make it down the aisle and instead by October 2018, they called it quits on their relationship.

Davidson addressed the breakup on SNL, saying: “The truth is, it’s nobody’s business.

“Sometimes things just don’t work out, and that’s okay. She’s a wonderful, strong person, and I genuinely wish her all the happiness in the world.”

Grande also referred to Davidson in her smash song Thank U, Next, where she sang: “Even almost got married, and for Pete I’m so thankful.”

After splitting from Grande, he briefly dated actress Kate Beckinsale, despite their 20 year age gap. They were first linked when they were reportedly spotted flirting at the Golden Globes after party at the beginning of 2019, and were then later seen kissing at a New York Rangers game in March the same year.

They then broke up in April of 2019.

His other exes include Margaret Qualley, daughter of Andie MacDowell, Kaia Gerber, daughter of Cindy Crawford, and comic Carly Aquilino.

Have Kim Kardashian and Kanye West gotten divorced?

After seven years of marriage, and after months of media speculation, it was revealed in February 2020 that Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, who recently legally changed his name to Ye, were getting divorced.

Kardashian was declared legally single on 2 March.

In the final episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Kardashian explained to her mother, Kris Jenner, why her marriage had failed.

She said: “I just want total happiness.

“Obviously, I know complete bliss is not a full reality but if I can have it more the majority of the time, that’s all I want to do.

“Wherever that takes me I just want my pure happiness. So that’s what I’m working on, figuring out how to get there.

“I just feel like I’ve worked so hard in life to achieve everything that I wanted to and I lived up to my expectations and achieved 10 times more than I ever thought was humanly possible, but I don’t have a life to share that with.”

She explained that she found herself lonely after Ye moved to a ranch in Wyoming, while she remained in California.

Kardashian said: “I never thought I was lonely, and I always thought that’s totally fine, I can just have my kids, my husband moves from state to state and I’m on this ride with him and I was okay with that.

“And then after turning 40 this year I realised no, I don’t want a husband that lives in a completely different state to me. I thought, “oh my God, that’s when we’re getting along the best”.

“But that is sad to me and that’s not what I want. I want someone that we have the same shows in common, I want someone that wants to work out with me.”

The two first started dating in 2012 and the pair got engaged that same year. Their wedding took place on 24 May 2014, at Fort di Belvedere in Italy.

They have four children together - North West (born 15 June 2013), Saint West (born 5 December 2015), Chicago West (born 15 January 2018) and Psalm West (born 9 May 2019).

Kardashian has said that she wants “nothing but a healthy and supportive co-parenting relationship” with West, however “Kanye continues to make it impossible every step of the way”.

West has been attempting to win Kardashian back through frequent and increasingly elaborate public gestures and social media statements, and has been very vocal about his dislike of Davidson, repeatedly using social media to attack the comedian.

The rapper has attracted criticism for his actions during this time, with many labelling his behaviour as stalking, harassment and abuse.

Kardashian spoke out against West in a statement in February, which said: “Divorce is difficult enough on our children and Kanye’s obsession with trying to control and manipulate our situation so negatively and publicly is only causing further pain for all.”

What has Kanye West said about Pete Davidson?

West has been extremely vocal about his dislike of Davidson, using social media platforms like Instagram to repeatedly attack the comic. All of his posts have since been deleted, with his Instagram feed totally empty. In one deleted post West called out Davidson, referring to him as “Skete” instead of Pete.

He wrote, in all capitals: “FOR EVERYONE MARRIED HOLD YOUR SPOUSE CLOSE MAKE SURE THEY KNOW HOW MUCH YOU LOVE AND APPRECIATE THEM BECAUSE THERES A SKETE LURKING IN EVERY DIRTY ASS ALLEY WAITING TO HELP DESTROY YOUR FAMILY AND WALK AROUND IN CALVIN KLEINS AROUND YOUR CHILDREN I WISH MY WIFE WAS WITH ME AND OUR CHILDREN SITTING AT THE 50 YARD LINE @kimkardashian ALWAYS REMEMBER WEST WAS YOUR BIGGEST W.”

In a different post, West posted a screenshot of an article about Davidson, with the headline “Pete Davidson enrages audience with jokes about having sex with a baby”.

West wrote in the caption: “Yet another reason why SKETE gotta stay away from my children Oh and nobody noticed that he ain’t show up to SNL because Mr. I can help you with meds had a mental breakdown after we ran him off the internet SKETE you not built for this I already blacked the Super Bowl out on you Apologize to your family for being in your family.”

In another post, West wrote: “I’m really concerned that SKETE will get my kids mom hooked on drugs He’s in rehab every 2 months.”

Shortly after Kardashian was legally emancipated from West, the rapper released a video for his song Easy, which depicted a claymation version of West kidnapping, tying up and burying from the neck down a figure that resembles Davidson.

The video then ends with the message: “Everyone livd [sic] happily ever after… except Skete.

“JK he’s fine.”

West also directly references Davidson in the song as well, at one point rapping: “God saved me from that car crash just so I can beat Pete Davidson’s ass.”

West also references Davidson in another song, Fivio Foreign’s single City of God, in which he says: “This afternoon, a hundred goons pullin’ up to SNL, when I pull up, it’s dead on arrival.”

The rapper has made a number of posts about Davidson on his Instagram which have since been deleted.

Recently, West appears to have made an effort to change his behaviour.

A source close to the rapper reportedly told Page Six that he was “going away to get help”.

A source close to the Kardashians said on 1 April: “For the sake of the kids, Kanye has told Kim he’s not making any public appearances or inflammatory social media statements, and he will go away somewhere to get better.”

A representative for West told the outlet: “At this time, Ye is committed to a healthy co-parenting relationship with Kim and is focused on raising their beautiful children.”