With a post on Instagram, Benjamin Mascolo, from the duo Benji & Fede, revealed this morning the diagnosis he received this summer, after “test after test”: high-functioning autism.
“This is the diagnosis, the response of modern science in 2024. I’m not a super-intelligent autistic person who views New York from a flying helicopter and can draw it from memory. I’m one of those who, when opening the restaurant menu, has an existential panic attack because there are too many choices, one of those who needs all his clothes to be from the same brand, all the same color, all the same model, packed in rigid transparent plastic bags and neatly stacked in a closet.”
This is how Benjamin Mascolo recounts the journey he has undergone in recent months, which has led him to finally discover what made him feel “damaged”. Under a childhood photo, the former singer of the duo Benji & Fede writes: “I don’t want the world to see me because I don’t think they would understand.” This is the chorus of my favorite song, Iris. I’ve spent my whole life wondering if I am damaged inside, if I am special, or if I am like everyone else and just ask myself too many questions.”
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After turbulent years of ups and downs, of substance abuse while living in Los Angeles, with ex-girlfriend Bella Thorne, and toxic sexual relationships, Benjamin Mascolo returned to Italy and began following a therapy path and a healthier lifestyle. “In these years I have undergone a therapy journey, I who never fully trusted adults, I who never truly believed in institutions and their representatives, be they teachers, police officers, or doctors. I got there out of exhaustion, because I had hurt myself so much that it no longer made sense to try to self-medicate, whether with drugs or with marathons and healthy diets.”
Thus, the musician writes, he decided to trust adults and doctors for once and spent the summer undergoing visits and meetings, always accompanied by wife Greta Cuoghi. Benjamin shares that he drove for hours “to reach a hospital on the other side of Italy, doing test after test, having my parents interviewed about my childhood by a great psychiatrist,” ultimately receiving the diagnosis that revealed the form of autism.
“Dr. Rosso says that within the diagnosis there is already a small healing effect, and I believe it.
I am still me, with an extra awareness: I am no longer alone,” concludes the singer in his Instagram post.