Kanye pursued model ‘months ago’

“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 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.RELATED: Kim’s unexpected message to KanyeKim 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.”RELATED: Kim breaks down over marriage “failure”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.Stream the latest season of Keeping Up With The Kardashians on Foxtel Now. Get your 10-day free trial. Sign up at foxtel.com.auA 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