A couple days ago, I was watching Kanye West’s “interview” in the White House Oval Office with Donald Trump. I must admit I mostly wanted to watch it just to see what kind of crazy stuff Kanye would come up with. To be frank, he has always seemed a little like a loose cannon, even back in the days when he announced that George W. Bush didn’t care about black people, or when he interrupted Taylor Swift during her award speech to say that Beyonce should have won.
However, when I heard Kanye say during his recent interview that he had been diagnosed bipolar, suddenly, a lot of things clicked into place. I hadn’t really thought of it before, but Kanye does come across as highly manic in his speech sometimes, especially when he is all worked up about things and causes a scene. He definitely seems to have pressured speech (his words just flow out everywhere and in every direction), and I recognize flight of ideas as well (his train of thought is often hard to follow, he shares his thoughts in a way that definitely isn’t always linear or seemingly coherent). Kanye often appears paranoid during these times as well.
I heard that after the interview, Kanye was asked about the bipolar diagnosis and said something along the lines that he thought he was misdiagnosed or he had somehow been cured (contradictory thoughts together). Even this reminds me of manic episodes, after all, what is more predictable than someone with bipolar denying their disease or refusing treatment when in the throes of mania?
Anyhow, my main point is that as someone who has bipolar type 2 myself, I do have empathy for whatever Kanye is dealing with mentally, even if I don’t agree with some of his bizarre or outlandish statements.
I don’t know about it. I don’t really pay attention to current events. I just get told stuff. If he’s bipolar it doesn’t change my opinion of him. I don’t care for his music. But I think it’s pretty awesome the image he has constructed for himself. And to me that is pretty genius, and it makes me think of how we try to construct our own public image. And in times of high stress what happens to our psyche. I know if I was famous, I’d be just as much of a loose cannon. I don’t know about better or worse, but I think it be a bit of an acquired evolving taste like.. Miley Cyrus or something. Lol
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Yeah, I often wonder what being famous would do to me if I were thrown into the spotlight like that. I would probably REALLY go off the rails lol.
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And if you do it really well, you’ll be remembered forever…. like a god! You could be like… MARANDA MAGDELINE! Or something. lol. Or Moaning Myrtle Maranda! Hey, hey? Mmmmmmaranda. With maracas!
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Funny, I always thought I looked a bit like the actress that played Moaning Myrtle lol.
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Own it. She was 32 when she played that role.
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LOL, people still think I’m way younger than I am.
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Because you’re young at heart. And find joy in stuff. Stuff that isn’t so damn complicated and upsetting bullcrap. Truth and honesty and love. What we all want really but we get corrupted by societal demands and expectations and crap
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I came in like a wrecking ball! And just smash shit. Because it’s funny. But totally serious because it’s a metaphor. And naked. Haha
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This reminds me of Britain’s Susan Boyle who rose to fame because of a talent show. As her media exposure increased, she started to display erratic behaviour. It wasn’t until later that she was diagnosed with Asperger.
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Yeah, I can see that too. I don’t know for sure that Kanye is bipolar of course, but if he says himself he has been diagnosed and he sure exhibits some of the symptoms of mania, it makes you think.
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I like your thoughts in this post. I don’t really care about Kanye tho, in an interview I heard him say that he is a synesthetic, and I don’t really care what he’s gonna say again, but I like how you share your opinion and your self condition to me as a reader. I have a question if you don’t mind, how do you know that you have a bipolar disorder?
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Are you asking me personally how I knew I had it or are you asking in general? I guess either way, getting a professional diagnosis is a good idea. I was actually diagnosed about a year ago when I had a bad hypomanic episode in relation to an antidepressant and ended up hospitalized after not being able to sleep for days on end.
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