COURTING CONTROVERSY

Is Bianca Censori under the control of Kanye West - or is she a willing accomplice in one of the most in-your-face spectacles showbiz has ever seen?

- NICI DE WET

IF THERE was an Oscar for courting controversy, flouting societal rules and not giving a flying fig leaf in the process, these two would win hands down.

Yet even in Kanye West and Bianca Censori's world, where rampant exhibitionism and the desire to shock consumes all else, things have become rather extreme.

It's not like we aren't used to seeing Ye's 30-year-old wife half in the nude the leave-nothing-to-the-imagination dresses, the itty-bitty skirts, the teeny-tiny tops, the why-bother bras, the who-needsundies jumpsuits... Bianca has been there done, done that and turned down the T-shirt.

There was also that boat ride in Venice where they behaved so brazenly in a gondola even the Italians were scandalised.

Europeans are usually a free-wheeling lot but this was more a case of free willy - and not in a good way.

But just when we thought we'd seen it all, Ye and B go to the Grammys, she drops her big fur coat on the red carpet and reveals a gown made of sheer tights material that shows all boobs and bits.

And as the inevitable fallout raged, the public weighed in - he was controlling her, she was his slave, his puppet, his show pony. It was a case of Stockholm syndrome - a much-younger woman held captive by a powerful man with deep pockets and shallow values.

Ye, however, didn't seem to care. As the days went on he shocked and outraged even more. Then the news came that they were divorcing and she was getting a $5-million (R90m) payout.

So just what is going on in this car-crash world? We strip off the layers and try to get to the bottom of it.

THE DIVORCE DRAMA

News sites reported the couple had gone their separate ways and were "lawyering up". She was staying in the couple's mansion in Beverly Hills, he was in Tokyo where he spent most of last year.

But within two hours of the announcement the couple's long-time spokesperson, Milo Yiannopoulos, had rubbished the claims.