Kanye West has revealed that he has been diagnosed with autism after his wife Bianca Censori urged him to get a second opinion.
West, who is legally known as Ye, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder a few years back in 2016.
And now, nearly 10 years later, the 47-year-old rapper has refuted the diagnosis and has attributed it to autism instead.
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Speaking on The Download with Justin Laboy in a video interview released on Wednesday (5 February), the father-of-four revealed it was Censori - who he tied the knot with back in 2022 - who suggested he go see a doctor.
"My wife took me because she said, 'Something about your personality doesn’t feel like it’s bipolar, I’ve seen bipolar before'," West revealed.
He added: "And come to find out, it’s really a case of autism that I have."
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He continued, sharing how his autism diagnosis has helped him understand some of his erratic and seemingly bizarre behaviour in the past.
West told Laboy: "Autism takes you to a Rain Man thing. 'Oh man, I’ma wear this Trump hat because I like Trump in general'. And then when people tell you to not do it, you just get on that one point. And that’s my problem."
The 'All of the Lights' rapper went on: "When fans tell me to do my album a certain way, I’ll do it the opposite way. It’s so difficult for them because this is like a grown man, you can’t tell him.
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"You can’t take control of his bank account. You can’t control what I’m saying on Twitter. The constant feeling of not being in control, spun me out of control."
Later in the interview, West shared that he's now stopped taking his medication for his bipolar disorder as he believed it was 'blocking' his creativity.
"I haven’t taken the medication since I found out it wasn’t bipolar, that it wasn’t the right diagnosis," he revealed.
"It’s finding stuff that doesn’t block the creativity, obviously that’s what I bring to the world. It’s worth the ramp-up, as long as y’all get the creativity."
The NHS states that autistic people 'may act in a different way to other people', noting the common signs of autism in adults which include:
- finding it hard to understand what others are thinking or feeling
- getting very anxious about social situations
- finding it hard to make friends or preferring to be on your own
- seeming blunt, rude or not interested in others without meaning to
- finding it hard to say how you feel
- taking things very literally – for example, you may not understand sarcasm or phrases like "break a leg"
- having the same routine every day and getting very anxious if it changes
You can find out more about autism on the official NHS website here.
Topics: Kanye West, Celebrity, Bianca Censori, Health
Rhiannon Ingle