Kanye West Talks Mental Health, Is 6 Months Off Meds

Photo: Roy Rochlin/Getty Images.

Between publicly hashing out his beef with Drake and speaking out about his struggles with mental illness, Kanye West revealed in a Twitter storm Saturday that he has not been taking medication over the past six months.

“I’m loving the new music I’ve been working on. 6 months off meds I can feel me again,” he tweeted.

West has been candid about his mental health before, confirming over the summer that he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. On his latest album Ye, he explicitly framed the illness as a strength, even calling it his “superpower” on one track. His characterization remained more or less the same over the weekend.

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“No one would ever choose to end up in a mental hospital and diagnosed with a mental disorder but god chose me to publicly go through this journey and it is beautiful,” he tweeted at one point.

He continued, “I am able to experience first hand how people who have mental health issues get written off by society. Don’t listen to him cause he’s crazy. He’s washed cause he’s crazy etc....”

I’m loving the new music I’ve been working on. 6 months off meds I can feel me again. Remember when dark fantasy came out I used to tweet a storm also.
— ye (@kanyewest) December 15, 2018

No one would ever choose to end up in a mental hospital and diagnosed with a mental disorder but god chose me to publicly go through this journey and it is beautiful
— ye (@kanyewest) December 15, 2018

I am able to experience first hand how people who have mental health issues get written off by society. Don’t listen to him cause he’s crazy. He’s washed cause he’s crazy etc...
— ye (@kanyewest) December 15, 2018

West went on to claim that he “cannot be on meds and make watch the throne level or dark fantasy level music,” referencing My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and Watch The Throne, two of his most critically acclaimed and thematically dark works. “You don’t make runaway on medication,” he wrote, to some backlash from followers concerned that he was promoting unsafe medical practices in service of creative output.

I cannot be on meds and make watch the throne level or dark fantasy level music
— ye (@kanyewest) December 15, 2018

You don’t make runaway on medication Even alcohol is and addictive substance called spirits that actually block our earthly connection to our spirit when we drown ourselves in it
— ye (@kanyewest) December 15, 2018

His thread on mental health appeared to be sparked by a Thursday night tweet from Ariana Grande, who posted that while “grown men” were fighting online, fans should check out the new music she and Miley Cyrus dropped on Friday. West, taking that as an apparent subtweet, put Grande on blast a few days later, writing, “People will no longer take mental health for a joke.”

Later that evening, comedian Pete Davidson posted a message on Instagram in support of West’s candidness. Davidson later apparently deleted his account after a concerning post about his own struggles with mental illness and suicidal thoughts.

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental illness, please contact Crisis Services Canada at 1-833-456-4566. All calls will be answered in confidence.

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