Kris Humphries On Kim Kardashian Marriage: Our Relationship Was 100% Real

For 72 days in 2011, Kim Kardashian was married to NBA player Kris Humphries. Their divorce was one of the biggest tabloid stories of the 2010s. Their messy split played out on Keeping Up With The Kardashians, as well. While Kris continued to play in the NBA over the past 8 years, he's kept a pretty low profile since his high profile days as Kim's husband. In an essay announcing his retirement from basketball, Kris got candid about his relationship with Kim, as well as their "brutal" split.

"I should have known what I was getting into. I was definitely naive about how much my life was going to change. But the one thing that really bothers me is whenever people say that my marriage was fake. There’s definitely a lot about that world that is not entirely real. But our actual relationship was 100% real," Kris wrote in the essay. "When it was clear that it wasn’t working … what can I say? It sucked. It’s never easy to go through the embarrassment of something like that — with your friends, with your family…. But when it plays out so publicly, in front of the world, it’s a whole other level. It was brutal."

The intense scrutiny he faced following his split from Kim was really hard for the Minnesota native. "I’ll be honest, I dealt with a lot of anxiety, especially in crowds. There was about a year where I was in a dark place. I didn’t want to leave my home. You feel like … I don’t know … the whole world hates you, but they don’t even know why. They don’t even know you at all. They just recognize your face, and they’re on you," he explained.

"I didn’t want to be Kris Humphries. It’s the craziest feeling in the world, not wanting to be yourself. And I didn’t even want to say anything to defend myself, because it felt like I couldn’t win," Kris continued. "You can’t go up against the tabloids. You can’t go up against that machine. There’s no point. And even if I played that game, I felt like it would be disrespecting the game of basketball."

Ultimately, though, Kris revealed he was able to make peace with that time in his life and move on. Now that he's retired from his career as a professional athlete, he's getting into the restaurant business. He's opened 10 Five Guys burger joints in the midwest already and is about to open 7 Crisp & Green establishments in the same region.

Photo: Getty


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