Kanye West’s former bodyguard has revealed the extent of the rapper’s “bizarre” and “meltdown”-filled behavior in an interview, shortly after he was reportedly fired for simply speaking to West’s wife, reality television queen Kim Kardashian.
In an extended interview with the UK Sun newspaper, 42-year-old Steve Stanulis — a former New York police officer who worked on West’s security team for a two-week period earlier this year — said he’s “never worked for someone like” West.
“I had to look after his toddler daughter once and it was so much easier than babysitting the father. He’s ten times worse than what you see,” Stanulis told the paper. “You just never knew what would trigger a meltdown.”
Among the rapper’s strangest behavior, Stanulis charged, is his refusal to press his own elevator buttons and his insistence that his security staff wear all black, because “patterns distract him.”
“On the first day we headed to his music studio. When we got into the elevator Kanye just stood there with his arms folded and said, ‘Aren’t you going to press the button?’” Stanulis recalled.
When the bodyguard said he didn’t know which floor the rapper worked on, West allegedly “flipped out, squealing that his time was precious and that he couldn’t believe I hadn’t called ahead to find out which floor he worked on.”
“I explained, ‘We have three options. You tell me the floor and I press the button, you press the button, or we stand here,'” Stanulis replied. “Eventually, he told me and I pressed the button. Kanye never, ever apologizes.”
The former bodyguard said that one of his colleagues was fired simply for touching West while directing him through hordes of paparazzi into a waiting car. Another time, he allegedly walked past a pair of security guards who had been chatting to each other, and ordered them not to talk to each other while he walked past them.
On another occasion, Stanulis had reportedly been helping West back to his New York City hotel room after a long night when the rapper headed for the wrong room.
“There were security men in the corridor who said the suite was occupied by a party of Italian dignitaries,” the bodyguard said. “Rather than apologizing, Kanye started yelling and screaming, ‘Don’t you know who I am? I’m Mr. West!’ to which the guys looked blank and curtly replied, ‘No.'”
“After an awkward few seconds, which felt like an eternity, Kanye let me guide him back the other way,” Stanulis added.
The bodyguard was reportedly fired simply for speaking to West’s wife, Kim Kardashian, in a hotel hallway shortly before the couple attended the swanky Met Ball gala in New York.
“I ran into Kim in the hallway, but before I had a chance to say anything Kanye emerged. I said: ‘How are you doing today, Mr West?’ He ignored me, walked into his room and shut the door abruptly,” Stanulis told the Sun. “After that they left for the ball without me. Shortly afterwards I was told my services were no longer required.”
“He is the most condescending person I have ever met,” Stanulis, who has reportedly also worked for actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Marguire, told the paper. “It is his world and everyone just exists within it. I don’t know how Kim stays married to him.”
West made headlines again earlier this week when he delivered an eight-minute-long rant on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, riffing on everything from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to his ideas on how to make human civilization great.
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum
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