With two of the most famous parents on the planet, it was inevitable that North West would reach the limelight before she could even walk and talk. But a recent TikTok controversy has brought this child into intense scrutiny, raising concerns about the perils of child stardom. Born in Los Angeles on June 15, 2013, North West is the eight-year-old daughter of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. She was born four weeks before her due date. Kanye was the first person to introduce his daughter to the press, as he brought a photo of his newborn child onto her grandmother’s talk show, Kris.

The pair married in 2014 and North was their first child, with siblings Chicago (born 2018) and Psalm (born 2019) following soon afterward. Kanye and Kim Kardashian filed for divorce in February 2021 citing irreconcilable differences. In a seemingly amicable arrangement, they agreed to joint custody of their four children, and both refused spousal support. According to Kim Kardashian, North (nicknamed Nori) is a confident and feisty kid who takes more after her father. Interviewed on the Honestly with Bari Weiss podcast in 2021, Kardashian was asked whether anyone intimidates her. “I was going to say politicians, but they don’t,” she responded. “Maybe just my daughter, North … North West is Kanye West’s daughter. She’s his twin.”

What is North West’s TikTok account?

Kim Kardashian and her children reside in a mansion in Southern California. North attends the Sierra Canyon School, the alma mater of her famous aunties Kylie and Kendall Jenner. No stranger to cameras, North West has already appeared alongside her family on Keeping Up with the Kardashians, as well as Kanye West’s music videos for Closed on Sunday and Only One featuring Paul McCartney.

However, in 2021 her public attention reached new heights when she and her mother launched a joint TikTok account, named @kimandnorth, on Thanksgiving. The account’s bio states that it is managed by an adult. This is a controversial detail, as TikTok’s terms of service state that under-13s cannot have their own accounts.

In under a month, Kim Kardashian and North West had amassed over 2 million followers on this shared account. In their videos together, the mother and daughter show their festive decorating, baking, dances and lip-syncing challenges, plus the antics of their pet cats. @kimandnorth currently has 6.1 million followers and 65 million likes.

One popular video shows North West wearing a T-shirt that depicts her famous father’s album College Dropout. Fans were delighted to see more of the Kardashian lifestyle, commenting: “This is the content we’ve been waiting for! The next gen is here” and “the Kardashian kids era is coming.”

North West goes live on TikTok

However, a troubling turn of events has left this particular account in a tailspin. Left to her own devices, in December 2021 North West went live on the social media app. She showed fans around her bright pink bedroom, in which she had her own Christmas tree, and then headed downstairs when fans asked for a house tour. Still broadcasting live, she took viewers around their Sing 2-themed Christmas decorations and fell into conversation with her younger brother Chicago. Abruptly, one of the siblings is heard saying, “North is live. North is live. North, you’re live. Not fair, TikTok! Not allowed to be live!”

Later, North walked into her mother’s bedroom in a new livestream, and told Kim Kardashian, “Mom, I’m live!” Shocked, Kardashian responded: “No, stop, you know you’re not allowed to. North, come on.” At this point, the clip stopped abruptly.

What did Kanye say about North’s TikTok?

On February 4, Kanye expressed his disapproval of this incident. He found an Instagram post that referenced North West’s TikTok account and screenshotted it alongside his daughter’s face and her handle. Captioning this new Instagram post, he wrote: “SINCE THIS IS MY FIRST DIVORCE I NEED TO KNOW WHAT I SHOULD DO ABOUT MY DAUGHTER BEING PUT ON TIK TOK AGAINST MY WILL?”

This comment is a further dig at the fact that his ex-wife has divorced previously, as she was married to Kris Humphries and Damon Thomas. What’s more, Kanye has criticised Kim’s parenting skills in his song Eazy, which was released in January. “I got love for the nannies, but real family is better / The cameras watch the kids, y’all stop takin’ the credit,” West rapped. “When you give em everything, they only want more / Boujee and unruly, y’all need to do some chores / Rich-a– kids, this ain’t yo mama house.”

In response, Kim Kardashian has fiercely defended the TikTok account. “Kanye’s constant attacks on me in interviews and on social media is actually more hurtful than any TikTok North might create,” she has said.

“As the parent who is the main provider and caregiver for our children, I am doing my best to protect our daughter while also allowing her to express her creativity in the medium that she wishes with adult supervision — because it brings her happiness,” Kim also noted. “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,” she said. But the privacy issues of a house tour by an eight-year-old with millions of followers are hard to ignore. What’s more, the TikTok controversy has turned into a jousting match between the former couple.

Credit: rodrigoferrari via Flickr

Kanye responded to Kim’s comments with another Instagram post, stating: “What do you mean by main provider? America saw you try to kid nap my daughter on her birthday by not providing the address.” “You put security on me inside of the house to play with my son then accused me of stealing I had to take a drug test after Chicago’s party cause you accused me of being on drugs,” he then added.

He also commented, “Tracy Romulus stop manipulating Kim to be this way…”, referring to Kim’s chief marketing officer, who has worked alongside her since 2017. However, Kanye has since deleted all of these comments about the TikTok account, perhaps showing some remorse at this very public feud.

The latest attacks

But Kanye was not yet ready to put aside the issue of North’s TikTok account. Instead, on March 13, 2022, he returned to Instagram with fresh criticisms of his estranged wife. In an Instagram video entitled ‘No Tik Tok video’, he stated: “Hey everybody, I just got off the phone with Kim. I told her to stop antagonizing me with this TikTok thing. I said it’s never again. I am her father,” he went on to say in the minute-long video. “I know ya’ll don’t respect fathers and the idea of family and the media tries to promote something. I said I am not allowing my daughter to be used by TikTok to be used by Disney.”

‘I have a say so and then when people say they’re going to use this for you in court… I didn’t have a say so on whether or not they went to Sierra Canyon,” he added, referring to North’s school. “Most men do not. There’s no such thing as 50/50 custody in society today – It always leans toward the mom, and I’m happy that you guys got to see such a small piece of what I dealt with. You understand what I’m saying?” In a separate Instagram post that same morning, he further criticised his children’s education. “I don’t want my kids at godless Sierra Canyon school, I got a voice and I’m not having this,” he wrote.

Credit: Cosmopolitan UK

“And Perez Hilton you still ain’t answer my question. And never put my name next to the word abuse. Don’t play with my name like that, I’m a real person who wants the best for my children. And DL Hughley is a pawn,” Kanye then claimed. His comment on Perez Hilton is in reference to his ongoing feud with the famed blogger. Hilton recently published a scathing article entitled Kanye West’s Social Media Implosion.

In response, Kanye wrote on Twitter, “I have a direct question for Mario Armando Lavandeira, Jr [Hilton’s birthname]. Do you find jokes about mental health funny?” Meanwhile his jibes at the actor DL Hughley are a response to Hughley’s latest comments about Kanye’s family situation.

Credit: @kanyewest

Speaking on VladTV, Hughley said of Kanye and North: “He is stalking her. You can think it’s cute. If it was my daughter, I’d do something about it. I don’t think it’s funny.” Hughley, who starred in D. L. Hughley Breaks the News and The Jay Leno Show, hit the headlines in 2020 after passing out onstage due to coronavirus. Kanye has recently taken aim at Hughley by posting a clip of this moment and calling Hughley a “drug addict.”

In his Instagram response, Kanye added an outright threat to Hughley: “Don’t speak on me or my children. I can afford to hurt u.” But Hughley has made light of this tirade, writing on Twitter: “Hmmm! Ain’t it weird that #Kanye supposedly has all these goons who will kill for him, but not one of them will get his prescriptions filled?” Meanwhile North’s TikTok account remains up and continues to thrive, although all comments have been turned off.