Long before Kanye West, Kim Kardashian’s first love was Michael Jackson’s nephew

During Thursday night’s episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Kim Kardashian was in tears as she talked about her marital issues with Kanye West. This is the first time that she is publicly commenting on the matter after reports that she filed for divorce from the rapper in February. They were married for almost seven years and are parents to daughters North, 7, and Chicago, 3, as well as sons Saint, 5, and Psalm, 2.

Kim has over the years had several high-profile relationships with famous men or men who are from famous families. Even before she became a household name or knew who Kanye was, she dated Michael Jackson’s nephew TJ Jackson (Tito Joe Jackson).

TJ, the son of Michael’s older brother, dated Kim for more than a year while she was in her teens. Kim’s family got along with TJ, and one of the people who really adored their relationship was Kim’s nanny, Pam Behan. She worked for Kim’s family from 1991 to1996. After having watched the Kardashian kids for five years, she recalled the relationship between TJ and Kim in an interview in 2018.

“I really liked T.J.,” she said during the interview on the Reelz Channel’s Scandal Made Me Famous. “He was kind of on the quiet, shy side, always very nice and polite. A good-looking kid, and as far as I could ever see, he treated Kim with great respect.”

Behan said Kim and TJ even visited Michael Jackson’s estate more than once. “I know that she went to the Neverland Ranch with him a time or two,” she recounted.

Kim did speak about those visits in the past. “That was the most magical place on earth,” the reality star told PEOPLE in 2009. “I had my birthday at Neverland Ranch. Who else can say that?”

“When you drove up there were baby elephants and chimpanzees in overalls, and there was all the rides,” Kim recalled. “It was everything you can possibly imagine. The memories I have from that place will last for the rest of my life.”

In spite of Kim and TJ’s strong, intimate relationship, the two went their separate ways after about two years. Their relationship didn’t last long largely because they were both still young and discovering themselves then, observers said. Nevertheless, Behan believed they would have been a perfect couple. “I honestly thought that they’d get married,” she said. “I really did.”

TJ would go on to get married and have children. Kim, after her relationship with him, got involved with several prominent people. At age 19, she married music producer Damon Thomas. They divorced after four years in 2004. Ahead of their divorce, Kim dated Kim singer Ray J. The two made a sex tape in 2003 that landed Kim in trouble when it was leaked in 2007.

Reports said Vivid Entertainment bought the rights for $1m and released the film as Kim Kardashian: Superstar on February 21, 2007. Kim took legal action against Vivid for ownership of the tape, but later settled with the company for $5 million in April 2007. That year, she got into a relationship with NFL star Reggie Bush. The couple separated in 2010.

Kim had a thing with Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Miles Austin before meeting New Jersey Nets player Kris Humphries, who she married on August 20, 2011. That marriage lasted for only 72 days. Kim met her now-estranged husband Kanye during that period. They got married in 2014. And though things didn’t work out, Kim has described Kanye as “an amazing dad”, adding that she hopes he finds a partner who would “support his every move.”

“I think he deserves someone that can go support his every move and go follow him all over the place and move to Wyoming,” the reality star told her siblings. “I can’t do that. He should have a wife that supports his every move and travels with him and does everything, and I can’t.”