Alexis Phifer
Gossip

The sad rumors are true: Alexis Phifer and Kanye West have ended their relationship.

Phifer herself has confirmed as much.

"It's always sad when things like this end, and we remain friends," Phifer told People Magazine. "I wish him the best in his future and all of his endeavors. He's one of the most talented people I've ever met."

Added a friend:

"They'd been having problems. Kanye is really focused on his show; he's putting everything into the show right now. Alexis is a nice girl, but Kanye has been going through a rough time. They hit a rough patch and for now they've split."

Who do you think Kanye should date now?  

Some get married - Eli Manning and Abby McGrew, for instance - while others call off their engagement. It's the circle of celebrity life.

Indeed, according to reports, Kanye West and Alexis Phifer have broken up. The rapper supposedly dumped his girlfriend, who he's been dating since 2002, without giving a significant reason.

Sources close to the hip-hop star claim Kanye even asked for his ring back.

It's all over for Alexis Phifer and Kanye West.

A source close to the couple said:

"Kanye is possessed by the tour and everything going on and just couldn't keep it going. They are still friends and have broken up and gotten back together before, so it could work out."

Calm down, celebrity gossip tabloids.

While Kanye West and his fiancee Alexis Phifer will be walking down the aisle at some point, that day hasn't arrived yet.

The rapper rep told Us Weekly that Internet reports about a secret wedding ceremony in Europe are "untrue."

Kanye proposed to Phifer in 2006 while vacationing in Italy.

Sources close to the Grammy-Award winning artists have said he would tie the knot with Phifer to honor his late mother's wishes that they make their relationship official. It just hasn't happened yet.

"I'm just going to go and get married," West told GQ last year. "I'm not going to make a big deal out of it."

Some celebrity gossip may be mere wishful thinking - we'll believe Jessica Simpson nude when we see it - but the following rumor makes a lot of sense. Even if its source is The National Enquirer.

According to that tabloid: "Kanye West has a heart-rendering final tribute planned for his late mother: he intends to marry fiancee Alexis Phifer right after the holidays."

Are wedding bells in the air for Alexis Phifer and Kanye West?

Reportedly, the tragic, sudden passing of Donda West has "brought into focus just how short life really is. Kanye doesn't want to wait any longer to make Alexis his wife," a family friend said. "He believes that this is what his mom would want him to do."

Unlike Tameka Foster, Phifer has been a welcome girlfriend and fiancee. Fans love her. So did Kanye's mom, who "loved Alexis and... was looking forward to seeing them get married," the source added.

Based on his new single, we thought Kanye West was getting Stronger.

Guess the supposedly tough rapper meant Dorkier, though.

At the Dior fashion show in Paris yesterday, Alexis Phifer looks embarrassed to be spotted next to her Steve Urkel look-alike of a fiance.

This is the dude who was gonna fight 50 Cent?!? He looks like he can barely handle Miley Cyrus.

Kanye West has been an angry man these days.

Following the Video Music Awards, he lashed out at MTV, saying the network exploited himself and Britney Spears and vowing to never work with the channel again.

Fortunately, fiancee Alexis Phifer was by the rapper's side at the Emmy Awards last night. And by the looks of the couple, she seems to have calmed Kanye down.

Alexis Phifer knows how to help her man chill out. Earlier in the evening, West was furious to discover that Kyle Chandler wasn't even nominated for an Emmy.

Kanye West's fiancée, Alexis Phifer, won't have to worry about any impending mother-in-law issues: her beau's mom is crazy about her.

"I think she's a very outstanding young woman," Dr. Donda West told People magazine. "She's quite talented, very intelligent, very creative. Very sweet, thoughtful, generous. I can't think of one negative thing I would say about her, even in private!"

Dr. West, meanwhile, has a new memoir, Raising Kanye, hitting shelves on Mother's Day. But this is no Dina Lohan, folks.

The doctor has her 29-year-old son's ode to her, "Hey Mama," as the ring-back tone on her Blackberry, and says she "loves" Phifer, to whom her son proposed last summer.

Unlike Eva Longoria and Tony Parker, this couple has not yet set a wedding date because "they're so busy traveling the world and having fun that they haven't had time," said Dr. West, the former chair of the English department at Chicago State University, who now works with her son as one of his managers.

Kanye's mom also said she doesn't wish to be involved in the wedding. Maybe she's learned what happens when parents bother their kids too much (right, Britney Spears?).

"I don't want to get involved in the wedding at all, except to be there. I assume it'll be well planned and very creative. It's going to be beautiful and an outstanding event, and what's going to make it great is that they love each other very much."

Dr. West's favorite thing about her the woman Kanye West is engaged to?

"The best thing that I love about her is that she loves my son," she said. "You can't beat that."

It's very similar to the way Blake Fielder-Civil feels about Amy Winehouse, we're sure.