RAPPER Kanye West has
secretly whisked Kim Kardashian to meet his beloved grandfather — to pave the
way for the couple to wed after her divorce.
But Portwood Williams Snr,
97 — one of Kanye’s biggest influences growing up — is convinced the marriage
will not last and won’t even attend the impending nuptials.
Portwood was married to his
wife Lucille for 72 YEARS before she died five years ago, aged 92.
In stark contrast to that
loving union, Kim was wed to US basketball ace Kris Humphries, 28, for just 72
DAYS in 2011 before they split.
Kim and Kris are currently
preparing to fight out the terms of their bitter divorce in court on May 6.
Kanye, 35, and Kim, 32, have
been an item for a year and she is now around five months pregnant with the
couple’s first child.
Portwood was left stunned
when his grandson turned up with his girlfriend at his humble home in Oklahoma
City.
He said: “I’ve never met
anyone who was married as long as me.
“I don’t do weddings. I
don’t like weddings. I’ve never seen one make it. You spend a lot of money,
then in weeks you’re separated.
“All of my daughters — they
never did make it. Kanye’s mother and daddy divorced too.”
Portwood laughed when he
considered his marriage lasted 72 years while Kim managed the same number of
days.
He added: “They didn’t make
it. But I want everybody to be happy and evidently she got who she wanted now.
She’s found a good man.”
Portwood — who Kanye and the
family refer to by the nickname Buddy — spent the afternoon proudly showing Kim
cute photos of Kanye as a young boy and other family shots that he displays on
the walls of his small bungalow.
The pair visited away from
the cameras of her fly-on-the-wall show, Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
He added: “She’s beautiful
and just as sweet as she is beautiful — and that’s what I like.
“She was down to earth,
she’s rich and those kind of people have got everything.
“Kanye never calls me and
tells me he’s coming, he just turns up.
“They stayed here, talking
to me. They stayed about four or five hours. We had a lot of fun laughing and
talking.”
Portwood was an active
member of the black civil rights movement in the 1950s.
In 1958 he took part in
sit-in protests at drug store lunch counters in Oklahoma to fight for equal
treatment, alongside famous campaigner Clara Luper.
Their campaigning led to the
desegregation of eating establishments in Oklahoma City and triggered change in
the rest of America.
Portwood’s passion also
influenced Kanye, who controversially claimed former US president George W Bush
“doesn’t care about black people” after Hurricane Katrina destroyed New Orleans
in 2005.
Scattered among the
treasured photos at Portwood’s home are two heartfelt messages from Kanye to
the grandfather who helped mould the Gold Digger singer’s future.
One reads: “Thank you 4
giving me all the advice I needed 2 go into the real world and be successful!”
There is also a vinyl record cover signed by Kanye with the message: “Buddy,
thanks 4 making me who I am.”
Portwood also revealed the
advice he gave Kanye, which the hip-hop star treasured so dearly.
He said: “I told him, ‘Trust
no one’. It’s a dirty world out there that he’s in. Don’t get too close to
nobody. Life is so beautiful, just live.” Kim also earned the thumbs up from
Kanye’s uncle, Portwood Williams Jnr, on the trip to Oklahoma City at the end
of last year.
Portwood Jnr said: “They
stayed over at grandad’s most of the day and they spent the night here.
“We loved her. The vision I
had of her before I met her wasn’t what she turned out to be.
“I thought she was a lot
more materialistic. I couldn’t say she wasn’t that but she’s a very warm
person.”
Portwood Jnr also told how
Kanye visited the family again without Kim at Christmas — and revealed the
couple’s baby news.
He said: “He had just told
us about it on Christmas Day, he was excited about it.”
Kanye invited Portwood Jnr
and his wife Beverly to a pre-New Year’s Eve concert in Atlantic City — where
he famously announced the baby news on stage. His uncle revealed: “He invited
us up there for the show.
“In fact, I was sitting
right behind Kim when he made the announcement about the baby. It was really
nice.”
Portwood Snr is father to
Kanye’s mum Donda, who died in 2007 of complications following plastic surgery.
The 58-year-old passed away
a day after a breast reduction, tummy tuck and liposuction, leaving mummy’s boy
Kanye heartbroken.
But while Kanye introduced
his new partner to his beloved mother’s family, he has kept her away from his
father Ray’s home.
Kanye and Kim have a joint
fortune of £100million and recently splashed out £7million on a giant mansion
in Bel Air, California.
But his 63-year-old dad
shares a flat in a shabby 15-storey block on the outskirts of US capital
Washington DC, with his partner Brenda Bentley.
He does not even own the
£200,000 home, but splits the rent with accountant Brenda.
And she admitted Kim is
unlikely to ever want to bring her child to visit their grandfather at his
home.
Brenda said: “Kim would not
be seen dead here, that would just be slumming it. You are never going to see
her here visiting Ray with her child.”
Friends in Kim’s Hollywood
set have already talked about Ray as the “poor relation” of the family.
But that’s the way Ray likes
it. The former member of the Sixties Black Power movement — the Black Panthers
— has refused repeated offers of help from his wealthy son.
In comparison the flash
Kardashian clan — sisters Kim, Khloe, Kourtney and mum Kris Jenner — rake in
millions each year from TV shows and spin-off perfume and clothing lines.
And while the entire
Kardashian family crave publicity, with every move documented for their reality
shows, Ray stays firmly in the background.
He lets his son bask in the
glory of his Grammy-winning success and personal fortune of £60million.
The proud father, who has
worked as a counsellor and newspaper photographer, flew to Los Angeles two
months ago to be introduced to Kim so she didn’t have to go to his humble home.
And Brenda said he cannot
wait to greet the family’s new arrival.
She said: “He is excited
about becoming a grandfather for the first time.”
Source:The Sun
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