Kanye West Shares Autism Diagnosis & How Wife Bianca Helped

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Kanye West is often outspoken regarding his music or style musings and how much better of a creative he is than everyone else.

But he’s also not afraid to talk about the struggles in his life, and that includes his mental health. Now, Ye is amending his previous diagnosis on a recent episode of Justin La Boy‘s The Download podcast.

Ye says that the old diagnosis of bipolar disorder was wrong and that he’s actually got autism. The idea to get reevaluated by a medical professional came from his wife, Bianca Censori, who had experiences with bipolar people and didn’t see that in Ye.

“My wife took me [to the doctor] because she said, ‘Something about your personality doesn’t feel like it’s bipolar, I’ve seen bipolar before,’” Ye remembers her saying. “And come to find out, it’s really a case of autism that I have.”

Ye even acknowledged that his team’s had a tough time keeping him in control when he goes on his social media rants and experiences episodes because he’s an adult with his own willpower.

“It’s so difficult for them because this is like a grown man, you can’t tell him,” the Grammy winner said. “You can’t take control of his bank account. You can’t control what I’m saying on Twitter,” West explained. “But a lot of what was sending me into the episodes — and it’s hard. The constant feeling of not being in control spun me out of control.”

Since the rediagnosis, Ye says he stopped taking BPD medications and that he struggles to take any medication at all because it muffles his personality and doesn’t allow him to be as creative as possible.

Ye first found out he was bipolar back in 2016 but didn’t make it public until 2018’s Ye album when he rapped that his BPD was a “superpower.”

But in 2022, his mind began to wonder if that was correct, and he floated the idea of autism during an interview with the paparazzi.

“For me, I believe that in no way I am bipolar; I am not in some kind of episode, but I may be slightly autistic, like Rain Man, and that’s part of my superpower!” he said. “That’s the reason why I can produce tracks and design and do so many things.

You can watch the entire episode of The Download above, in which Ye talks about his ongoing feud with Drake, his forthcoming album Bully, and more.