TMZ: Kanye West in the throes of a serious bipolar episode in the past week

Kanye White House

Whenever I write about Kanye West’s MAGA-ness or his unhinged political thoughts, I tend to use the photos of Kanye in the Oval Office from October 2018. Kanye was clearly and visibly off his medication during that trip to Washington, and he ranted and raved to Donald Trump for what felt like an eternity, all with about 20 journalists, photographers and videographers to document the episode. Shortly after that, Kim Kardashian basically forced Kanye to go away for about a month or so, and I tend to believe it was some kind of intervention to get him to go back on his medication. Kanye is an unreliable narrator of his own mental illness, but he’s spoken before about how he’s bipolar, how he sometimes goes off his medication, how his medication “stifles his creativity.”

I’m bringing up the 2018 Oval Office visit because it seemed like he was a very ill man and few people actually acknowledged that what we were seeing was just plain old mental illness and not some next-level political stunt. So it is this month, with Kanye “announcing his presidential candidacy” and giving an absolutely stupid and bonkers interview to Forbes. Now “sources” are telling TMZ that Kanye is unmedicated and in the throes of another bipolar/manic episode:

Kanye West is in the throes of a serious bipolar episode, our Kanye sources say, and those around him are concerned it has impacted his decision-making and some of the things he’s said in the last week … sources close to Kanye tell TMZ. Our Kanye sources tell us, he suffers a serious bout with his bipolar disorder, usually once a year … and our sources say Kanye’s in the midst of one now.

As you know, Ye announced he’s running for president via Twitter over the weekend, and also did a rambling interview with Forbes … which drew harsh criticism, confusion and concern.

Our sources say his family and those close to him are worried, but they believe things will stabilize as they have in the past. The problem here, we’re told — Kanye’s proclamations are causing problems. Of course, Kanye’s apparent bipolar episode hasn’t kept him from garnering presidential campaign support from the likes of Elon Musk … who hung with the rapper just days prior to his announcement.

Others are much more skeptical, and that skepticism likely grew in the wake of Kanye’s wide-interview with Forbes … in which he dumped Trump, slammed Biden, revealed he’s running as part of a new party called the “Birthday Party,” claimed he had COVID-19, pushed an anti-vaxx narrative and talked a lot about God. What the interview didn’t touch on, weirdly, was Kanye’s mental health.

[From TMZ]

While TMZ avoided this, I’m sure there will be comments along the lines of “why doesn’t Kim do something.” It’s not Kim’s responsibility, Kanye is her husband not her child. She has four children and Kanye doesn’t take his mental health seriously enough to take his medication for himself, for his wife or for his kids. This is why Kim has been so quiet in the past week about Kanye – she’s dealing with him 24/7, and she probably knows better than most how unreachable he is during a manic episode. This is why that Forbes interview was so exploitative, and why journalists shouldn’t act as mere stenographers.

PS… In the Forbes piece, Kanye called Planned Parenthood “the Devil’s work” and the director of Black Leadership and Engagement at Planned Parenthood issued a statement about Kanye’s utter horses-t – go here to read. This is one of the reasons why I’m so mad about all of this – Kanye’s manic episodes don’t exist in a vacuum, and his rantings hurt real people and real issues.

Kanye White House

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

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