Julia Fox talks Kanye West split: 'I tapped out at the first sign of a red flag'

Julia Fox is proud of herself for ending her fleeting fling with Kanye West.

If you're like us, it's probably been months since you thought of the pairing, which lasted less than 2 months, from New Year's Eve 2022 into February, with public stunts aplenty. In a new interview, she says the romance was real, but the rapper/designer had "issues" and she lacked the "energy" to stick around while he worked through them.

The Uncut Gems (or "Unkuh-Jamz") actress, model, artist and muse told Evening Standard's ES magazine that there was "a good amount" of romantic spark between her and West, who started hanging out on the heels of his ex-wife Kim Kardashian's now-kaput relationship with Pete Davidson.

"I was just going day by day and seeing where it went," Fox, a mom of one, said of the West coupling. "It was just like: He still wants to hang out with me today, let’s do it. And then real life set in and the lifestyle wasn’t sustainable. I couldn’t fly away once a week. And I tapped out at the first sign of a red flag."

We've heard Kristin Cavallari discuss her red flags during her marriage to Jay Cutler recently. Dealbreakers in the relationship that were toxic. So what were Fox's red flags with West?

"The unresolved issues that he was dealing with," she said after carefully selecting her words. "It just seems like he had a lot to work on, and I just don't have time for it, or energy. I don’t have the bandwidth or emotional capacity for it."

She added, "I’m proud of myself for that. Pre-Valentino Julia would have definitely stuck it out and been there for longer," referencing her 1-year-old son with ex Peter Artemiev.

The blink-and-you-missed it romance between Fox and West sparked on New Year's Eve in Miami, where he made a surprise performance and she was celebrating. A week later, they did a photo shoot in the middle of a restaurant while people ate. We were introduced to the Fox eye (with tutorials!). He dressed her. He gifted her friends Birkin bags. And, of course, they stepped out at Paris Fashion Week — though anyone could have been under that mask, we guess.

PARIS, FRANCE - JANUARY 24: Julia Fox and Ye attend the Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2022 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on January 24, 2022 in Paris, France. (Photo by Jacopo Raule/Getty Images)
Julia Fox and Ye attend the Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2022 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on Jan. 24, 2022 in Paris, France. (Photo: Jacopo Raule/Getty Images)

By the first week of February, they were spending time apart and they split days later. We'd venture to guess that a "red flag" is the fact that Ye was still in love with Kardashian. After all, he made a powerplay to win back the mom of his four kids on Valentine's Day (even though she had another valentine). In fact, all along during the Fox-West fling, even at the start, sources whispered to celebrity news outlets that he had "not given up" on Kardashian.

Either way, Fox — who many suspected dated West for publicity in the first place — landed on her feet. She made her runway debut one week later wearing a revenge dress. And she's been able to still get loads of press without West for going grocery shopping in her underwear, bringing her baby to New York Fashion Week and giving unconventional parenting advice — and the like.