The musician Lil Nas X has posted a moving video update to his Instagram. In the nearly three-minute clip that first appeared on Wednesday, the 27-year-old rapper and singer—born Montero Lamar Hill—shared that he has “been in rehab for a few months” and, since then, returned home to both Atlanta, where he’s from and his family lives, and Los Angeles, where he now resides, per the AP. The update comes in response to an event last summer in which the musician was charged with attacking Los Angeles police officers. In April, a judge allowed the musician to enter a mental health diversion program intended to lead to the charges being dismissed.
The musician was eligible for the program because the court found that the encounter involving police was the result of his since-diagnosed bipolar disorder and appeared to be an aberration compared with his usual behavior. In Wednesday’s video, Lil Nas X publicly discussed his mental health diagnosis. “I have a therapist now and a psychiatrist, which has been really helpful,” he said. “When I got my bipolar disorder diagnosis, I feel like I had known for, like, the past few years, but I didn’t want to admit to it, ’cause I didn’t want to have to take medication and … have people think different of me.”
“I’m doing much better,” he continued, after joking that he’s “living life on extreme hard mode” as a Black gay man with a mental health disorder. “I’m feeling better. I’m creating freely. And there’s less fear in my heart.” Lil Nas X was arrested and briefly taken to a hospital for a suspected overdose in August after Los Angeles police say he charged at officers responding to a report of a naked man walking on a busy boulevard. Authorities allege the musician was walking nearly nude down a street in LA’s San Fernando Valley and charged at police officers who were responding to calls about him. A criminal complaint says three officers were hurt.
Bipolar disorder is a mental illness that causes dramatic shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, and concentration. After spending three days in jail, Lil Nas X was released on $75,000 bail on the condition that he attend drug treatment. He pleaded not guilty in a court appearance to three counts of battery with injury on a police officer and one count of resisting an executive officer. In his first public comments shortly thereafter, the artist posted a video to Instagram, saying, “These last four days have been terrifying.” He added with a laugh, however, speaking of himself, that “your girl is going to be OK. She’s going to be all right.” More here.
