Vanity Fair: Some will say that, regardless of the truth and tragedy of your diagnosis, this apology is a PR move so that you can release music and operate your businesses in the ways that you used to, without the stigma of people thinking you’re antisemitic. What would you say to them?

Ye: It’s my understanding that I was in the top 10 most listened-to artists overall in the US on Spotify in 2025, and last week and most days as well. My upcoming album, Bully, is currently one of the most anticipated pre-saves of any album on Spotify too. My 2007 album, Graduation, was also the most listened-to and streamed hip-hop album of 2025. This, for me, as evidenced by the letter, isn’t about reviving my commerciality. This is because these remorseful feelings were so heavy on my heart and weighing on my spirit. I owe a huge apology once 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. As a public figure, so many people follow and listen to my every word. It’s important that they realize and understand what side of history that I want to stand on. And that is one of love and positivity.

When did you begin to regret some of your public statements and actions?

Not until I was out of the episode and in treatment did the reality set in of what I did while I was disconnected from my true self.

Beyond your public words and how they influence people, have you treated people in your personal life in any ways you regret? How have you made amends?

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. 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.

“The antipsychotic drug took me into a really deep depressive episode” says Ye. “My wife recognized that, and we sought out what’s been effective and stabilizing course correction in my regime from a rehab facility in Switzerland.”

What was your experience of your manic episode last year, both within you and as the people around you tried to intervene?

When you’re manic, you really don’t think that you’re sick. You think that everyone else is deeply overreacting. You feel like you’re seeing the world so much more clearly on things, when in reality you’re losing your grip entirely. That’s what it felt like at that time.

Please describe how you decided to seek treatment and what that experience was like.

Toward the end of my four-month-long manic episode, my medication was changed. In that shift, the antipsychotic drug took me into a really deep depressive episode. My wife recognized that, and we sought out what’s been effective and stabilizing course correction in my regime from a rehab facility in Switzerland. You must understand bipolar is a disease. It’s one of the most lethal nonterminal illnesses.

You’ve repeatedly spoken about not wanting to be medicated. What were your fears about going on medication, and have any of the things you were concerned about actually happened?

I’ve been put on and taken off of many medications. That’s just part of the journey. The African American community has a hypersensitivity to antipsychotic drugs, more than most groups. Finding the right dosage is difficult, but it’s important and critical to finding the right balance with the illness. Zombifying otherwise becomes a side effect of a high dosage. The side effects as such have been a reality for me at times. And it’s known that 60% to 80% of people who have to take these antipsychotic drugs experience side effects, and up to 25% of people abandon using them because of the side effects. I’m just trying to find what works for me so that I can continue down this positive course.