The Keeping Up with the Kardashians star finds her relationship with the rapper - who was left devastated when his mother Donda died from complications from cosmetic surgery in 2007 - "comforting" because they get along so well and can relate to each other's life experiences.

Kim - whose father Robert Kardashian died of cancer in 2003 - said: "It's very comforting to have someone that knows everything about you, that respects you, understands, has gone through the similar things.

"I can really relate to his mother passing. He can really relate to my father passing. I mean, there's so many similarities in our life that ... I feel like I'm at a really happy, good space."

Kim - who split from husband Kris Humphries in October after just 72 days of marriage - had been friends with Kanye for "six or seven years" before they started dating earlier this year and she thinks her previous experiences have helped their relationship.

Speaking to Oprah Winfrey in an interview airing in the US on Sunday, she said: "I don't know why it took so long for us to get together, but I think I needed to go through all my experiences."