The 40-year-old Keeping Up With The Kardashians star reportedly filed for divorce from her rapper husband, 43, on Friday and North apparently “knows what’s going on”.

The reality star is thought to have made the decision to tell her eldest child “alone” so that she could “understand” what was happening between her parents.

Kim and Kanye have been living separate lives for months, with the rapper holed up in his $14 million ranch in Wyoming while Kim continues to live with their kids in the $40 million Calabasas mansion that they own.

A source told Hollywood Life that North is understanding “as much as she can” about the situation.

Kim Kardashian has told daughter North about her divorce from Kanye West ( Image: Instagram)

The source continued: “Kim sat her down alone to tell her, but not the younger ones.

“Kim and Kanye been living like this for so long. The last year has been exactly like this where they’ve been living separate lives both physically and emotionally, so whether there has been paperwork or not, they have not been living in a conventional marital situation.”

The current situation will mean that there “won’t be a change for the children at all,” according to the source.

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West with children in happier times (Image: Instagram)

For North and her siblings Saint, five, Chicago, three, and Psalm, one, the source said: “Things are not going to change much. The life they have right now. It feels like they’ve been divorced since last summer.”

Meanwhile, Kanye is hoping to build a compound outside Los Angeles so that he can be close to his children but away from the noise of LA.

The source added: “Kanye still wants to build a compound outside of LA. That’s probably how he’ll see the kids when he does come to California.”

“He’s been bouncing around very discretely for awhile now.

“He hates LA so much because of the paparazzi, noise and crowds. He likes to be isolated with a very small team around him. That’s when he’s most creative and happiest.”