Kanye West, Irina Shayk have been dating longer than first thought

Hollywood’s hottest new couple, Kanye West and Irina Shayk, have reportedly been dating for a lot longer than we originally thought.

Kanye West “pursued” his new flame, Irina Shayk, earlier this year – months before they were photographed together – a source has revealed.

“Kanye and Irina met up in the beginning of spring [March] and had been in touch since, but they did not start regularly ‘seeing each other’ until a few weeks ago,” the source says. “He pursued her.”

Obviously, it worked: West, 44, and Shayk, 35, were seen holidaying in Provence, France, on Wednesday on the heels of his birthday.

Kanye West and Irina Shayk at the luxury Villa La Coste. Picture: BACKGRID

“Kanye and Irina are seeing each other. It’s casual at the moment, but they are into each other,” an insider said after the photos emerged. “It’s been going on for a few weeks now.”

They returned to the US following their French trip on Thursday, disembarking at a New Jersey airport, though they did not leave together.

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Irina Shayk is dating Kanye West. Picture: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

West and Shayk spent time in France together this week. Picture: Jean-Baptiste Lacroix/AFP

Kim Kardashian, who West married in 2014, filed for divorce from the rapper in March.

It comes as it was revealed West and Shayk’s personal relationship spans more than a decade.

He cast the then-relatively unknown model in his music video for Power in 2010, the same year she got a shout-out in his song Christian Dior Denim Flow. Two years later, she walked in his runway show during Paris Fashion Week.

The rapper’s suitor approach to Shayk resembles how he pursued his now-estranged wife, Kim Kardashian, back in the day.

“I met him, I think, in 2002 or 2003,” Kardashian, now 40, told Ryan Seacrest during the Keeping Up With The Kardashians 10th anniversary special, which aired in 2017.

“He was recording a song with Brandy, and I was her friend. I vividly remember hanging out with him, and then they did a video together, so I’d see him a few times. He was asking his friends: ‘Who is this Kim Kardajan?’ He didn’t know what my name was.”

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Kim and Kanye were married in 2014 and are now going through a divorce. Picture: Jean-Baptiste Lacroix/AFP

The two kept in touch, and West kept asking about Kardashian until he finally invited her to Paris – ironically, for the same show Shayk walked in. Their relationship blossomed from there, and they married in 2014.

The estranged couple share four children: North, 7, Saint, 5, Chicago, 3, and Psalm, 2.

Shayk, meanwhile, shares daughter Lea, 4, with ex Bradley Cooper.

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Irina Shayk was formerly with Bradley Cooper for four years. Picture: Valerie Macon/AFP

A rep for West did not immediately return Page Six’s request for comment.

This story originally appeared on NY Post and has been reproduced here with permission