ye Details Manic Episodes, Apologies for Antisemitic Remarks & Diagnosis Confusion
A full-page advertisement in the Wall Street Journal and a recent interview with Vanity Fair offer new insight into Kanye West’s, legally known as Ye, mindset during a period marked by his antisemitic comments and is now detailing his struggles with mental health, including a fluctuating diagnosis and the challenges of medication.
Ye’s controversial remarks, which included statements like “There’s a lot of things that I love about Hitler” and “I’m a Nazi … I love Hitler,” alongside accusations against Jewish people and the display of swastika imagery, triggered widespread condemnation. these actions led to the termination of his lucrative partnership with Adidas and the severing of ties with his talent agency. Prior to these incidents, Ye had also faced criticism for statements targeting Black Americans, including the claim that “slavery was a choice” and the promotion of the “White Lives Matter” slogan.
The initial public apology came in the form of an open letter published on Monday, addressing “those I hurt.” In the letter, ye attributed his behavior to bipolar-1 disorder, which he linked to brain injuries sustained in a serious car accident. “It makes you blind, but convinced you have insight. You feel powerful, certain, unstoppable,” he wrote. “I lost touch with reality. Things got worse the longer I ignored the problem. I said and did things I deeply regret … I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state, and am committed to accountability, treatment, and meaningful change. It does not excuse what I did though. I am not a Nazi or an antisemite.I love jewish people.”
Expanding on this apology in a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Ye insisted his remorse was genuine and not motivated by commercial concerns, particularly with the anticipated release of his new album, Bully.”these remorseful feelings were so heavy on my heart and weighing on my spirit,” he explained. “I owe a huge apology onc again for everything that I said that hurt the Jewish and Black communities in particular. All of it went too far. I look at wreckage of my episode and realize that this isn’t who I am.” He emphasized his desire to be remembered as someone who stands “on the side of love and positivity.”
Ye described the profound impact his actions have had on his personal relationships. “Every day that I wake up, it’s a checklist of everything that I said – at least what I can recall – while in a bipolar episode,” he stated. “All of the family bonds, deep relationships, and lifelong friendships that I worked so hard to build over so many years were all tarnished by all of the horrible statements that I made so impulsively.”
he revealed that a manic episode in 2025 lasted four months,and a subsequent medication change induced depression. this led him to seek treatment at a rehabilitation facility in Switzerland, which he described as an “effective and stabilising course correction.” “Finding the right dosage is difficult,but it’s critically important and critical to finding the right balance with the illness,” Ye said. he cautioned against excessive medication, stating, “Zombifying otherwise becomes a side effect of a high dosage. The side effects in this very way have been a reality for me at times … I’m just trying to find what works for me so that I can continue down this positive course.”
However, Ye’s journey with diagnosis has been complex. In February 2025, he publicly questioned his bipolar diagnosis, suggesting he might be autistic after consulting with a doctor and halting his bipolar medication. He later retracted this claim in his Wall Street Journal apology, stating, “It’s not just me who ruins their entire life once a year despite taking meds every day and being told by the so-called best doctors in the world that I am not bipolar, but merely experiencing ‘symptoms of autism’.”
The path to stability, Ye acknowledges, remains ongoing. His recent statements represent a continued effort to address the harm caused by his past actions and navigate the complexities of his mental health.
