There's a curious back story to the house Kim Kardashian and Kanye West were staying in.

Kim Kardashian’s return to social media a week ago has been met with mixed reactions from fans: some are just happy to have Kim back in their Instagram feeds, but others have criticised the reality star for trying to “look poor” in her posts.

my son ❤

A photo posted by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on Jan 4, 2017 at 9:54am PST

Kim’s return has been dominated by Polaroid-style images, and look more like throwback family photos from the 70s than the glamorous, jewellery-filled posts we’re used to seeing.

“Stop trying to look poor for the aesthetic,” wrote one fan on a photo of Kanye West sitting on an old green couch with his one-year-old son, Saint.

my boys ❤️

A photo posted by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on Jan 10, 2017 at 1:22pm PST

“Enjoying the middle class life?” wrote another.

Many wondered whose house the famous couple were ‘borrowing’ to “play poor” in the images, since it was clear the images weren’t taken in their multi-million dollar mansion.

Still trying to figure out whose house Kim and Kanye decided to go play “middle class” in pic.twitter.com/CKaMfeOdHK

— Sylvia Obell (@SylviaObell) January 11, 2017

As it turns out, the house is all part of Kanye’s recovery plan after he was hospitalised for temporary psychosis due to sleep deprivation and extreme dehydration in late November.

The photos were taken at music producer, and founder of Def Jam records, Rick Rubin’s Malibu home, which he offered up to Kanye as a place to “escape and get his mind right” after his health scare, TMZ reports.

family

A photo posted by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on Jan 3, 2017 at 10:56am PST

The home is sparsely furnished, and Kanye and his famous family have been staying there on-and-off during the holiday period.

It turns out, hiding out in a fellow celebrity’s home to escape the public eye and paparazzi in times of stress is nothing new for famous faces.

Glee star Lea Michele revealed that Kate Hudson offered her a place to stay in the days after her boyfriend Cory Monteith died from an overdose in 2013.

“I called her and said, I don’t know where I’m going to go because my house is swarmed [with reporters],” the star told Elle magazine.

“She was like, “Oh, you’re going to stay at my house.” Like it was nothing.”

Here’s hoping Kim and Kanye are getting the rest, relaxation and privacy they need after what was a pretty traumatic 2016.