BY PETER SBLENDORIO
Couples counseling might not be the worst thing for Kim Kardashian and Kanye West.
The pop-culture icons — who have each experienced their own individual traumas in recent weeks — are apparently seeking professional therapy in an effort to help their marriage amid the wave of off-screen drama currently engulfing their lives, Dailymail.com reported.
Speculation regarding the state of their marriage has run rampant since West was hospitalized after a mental breakdown last month. Meanwhile, Kardashian has uncharacteristically disappeared from the spotlight since being bound, gagged and robbed at gunpoint in Paris in October.
So counseling could be exactly the tune-up that the rapper and the reality star need, according to New York-based relationship expert Susan Winter.
“It’s a terrific idea. When an individual has a problem, it affects the relationship,” Winter told the Daily News. “If they are experiencing a personal issue, it will seep into how the relationship is functioning.“
“They may be getting individual counseling for these traumas that they’ve gone through recently, but they certainly need to know how to dialogue and communicate with each other in the relationship, and that’s where a couples therapist would really help,” she continued.
Kardashian remained by West’s side throughout his stay at the UCLA Medical Center in late November, but the duo hadn’t been photographed together by paparazzi since his release until they went to dinner together in Santa Monica over the weekend.
Their unbridled fame could be weighing heavily on their marriage, Winter says.
“This might be a time where they recalculate how public they want to be, and in what areas they want to let people into their lives,” she said.
Winter believes their marriage can be saved, despite dubious reports by multiple outlets claiming their troubles have caused extra stress on their union.
“They have been through a lot. They have two children,” she says. “They have every impetus to move forward, and they’re pretty well-suited for each other.“
A source told the Daily News earlier this month that Kardashian doesn’t want a divorce from the “Famous” rapper, despite a report at the time suggesting otherwise.
“It’s a positive sign that they want something to work,” Winter said. “When you don’t want it to work, you don’t even bother going to counseling.“
