Kanye West: 'I knew Kim Kardashian was the one from the first day I saw her'

Rapper Kanye West has opened up about the first time he met girlfriend Kim Kardashian and instantly fell in love.

The Jesus Walks hitmaker sat down with his future mother-in-law Kris Jenner to tape an interview, which aired on her talk show Kris on Friday (23Aug13), and revealed it was love at first sight when he met her daughter.

He told Jenner, "I'm trying to remember if it was her being in the studio when she was Brandy's assistant and I think she brought us in something to drink, something you can't drink on daytime television, or it might have been when I was doing Brandy's video. I remember asking my manager like, 'Who's that girl right there?' and he's like, 'Oh you mean Kim?'"

West proclaimed he knew Kardashian was 'the one' and spent the next few years pursuing her, despite the fact they were both in other relationships - she romanced Reggie Bush and briefly wed basketball star Kris Humphries, while he dated model Amber Rose.

He says, "I remember seeing pictures of her, I think she was in Australia with Paris Hilton, and reading her name and telling my friends like, 'Man, have you ever seen Kim Kardashian?'"

West eventually cast her as Star Wars character Princess Leia in his failed TV pilot Alligator Boots, and finally plucked up the courage to speak to her one day on set.

He explains, "I remember I had this TV show that had puppets in it, like a modern day Jim Henson vibe, and we were doing this skit where I was playing, like, a Star Wars character and I wanted her to be Princess Leia because she was my dream girl.

"So she came to the show and I just remember being so nervous around her and so in awe that she was actually in front of me and we shot the scene and I was able to start talking to her and just speaking with her... I was in love with her before I ever got to talk to her."

Kardashian and West have been together for over a year. In June (13), they welcomed their first child together, a daughter named North West.