Kanye West, the US rapper, has revealed that he has been diagnosed with autism.
Autism spectrum disorder is a neurological and developmental disorder that affects how people interact with others, communicate, learn, and behave.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, autism can be diagnosed at any age.
In an interview on ‘The Download’, Kanye West revealed that he was previously misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder but decided to get re-evaluated after his wife, Bianca, doubted the diagnosis.
The rapper said the diagnosis has helped him understand himself better and why he fixates on certain things even when advised otherwise.
Kanye West also said that his inability to be controlled by others ultimately led him to lose control.
“I went to this doctor… My wife took me to do that because she said, ‘something about your personality does not feel like it is bipolar, I have seen bipolar before’, and I have come to find that it is really a case of autism that I have,” West said.
“Autism takes you to a ‘Rain Man’ thing. When people tell you to not do it, you just get on that one point. And that is my problem. When fans tell me to do my album a certain way, I’ll do it the opposite way.
“It’s so difficult for people around me because this is like a grown man. You can’t take control of his bank account, you can’t control what I’m saying on Twitter but a lot of what was sending me into the episodes and it is hard.
“The constant feeling of not being in control spun me out of control.”
He further revealed he has not taken any medication since the diagnosis because he believes it could hinder his creativity.
“I have not taken the medication since I found out that bipolar was not the right diagnosis,” he added.
“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.”
In 2019, Kanye West had opened up on his struggles with mental health including bipolar disorder and sometimes psychosis.
In 2020, Kim Kardashian, the rapper’s ex-wife, also defended him, attributing erratic social media posts to his diagnosis of bipolar disorder.
