Entertainment

Kanye Donated $1 Million To Prison Reform Organizations For Kim K's Birthday

by Parry Ernsberger
Roy Rochlin/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Kim Kardashian turned 39 on Monday and Kanye West bought her a small island. Just kidding, but based on the gifts he's given her in the past, a small island wouldn't be out of the question. Still, West's birthday present to Kardashian this year was extremely generous nonetheless. The rapper donated $1 million in his wife's name to charities that focus on prison reform, which is an issue that Kardashian has advocated for over the past year and a half.

The mogul mom of four took to Twitter to share with fans that West "donated $1 million to my favorite charities that work so hard on prison reform on my behalf from him and the kids." The tweet included a photo of a certificate, specifying the money had been split between Cut 50, an initiative to reduce the amount of people in prison; the Buried Alive Project, which is focused on "dismantling" life without parole sentences; the Equal Justice Initiative, which aims to end mass incarceration; and the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, which provides a support network for formerly incarcerated individuals.

West tends to go all out when it comes to buying gifts for his wife, no matter the occasion. Take, for example, the customized Hermès Birkin bag he bought her for Christmas back in 2014. The bag alone cost an estimated $40,000 at the time, according to The Hollywood Reporter, but was essentially rendered priceless with the addition of the one-of-a-kind, hand-painted artwork by contemporary artist George Condo.

Then there's all those Cartier bracelets he's gotten her over the years, the Lorraine Schwartz diamond choker she got as a "push present" ahead of Saint's birth in 2015, and the $200,000 worth of stocks Kardashian received for Christmas in 2017. Let's not forget the massively extravagant flower walls West has surprised her with on more than one occasion, or the time he gave her 1,000 roses for Valentine's Day.

Kardashian began publicly advocating for criminal justice back in June of last year, when she helped convince President Donald Trump to commute Alice Marie Johnson’s life sentence — a sentence Johnson received for a first-time, nonviolent drug offense 22 years prior. Since then, the star has continued to fight for prison reform by visiting prisons and even the White House, and is even studying to become a lawyer in order to further advance the cause.

"I just felt like I wanted to be able to fight for people who have paid their dues to society," Kardashian told Vogue in May 2019 of her interest in prison reform and working toward getting her law degree. "I just felt like the system could be so different, and I wanted to fight to fix it, and if I knew more, I could do more." In the meantime, $1 million will do plenty of good too.