Lil Nas X has returned to Instagram to share a candid update about his mental health.
In recent months, the “Industry Baby” rapper and pop star, 27, has been fighting legal charges stemming from a 2025 altercation with police officers. Last August, the Grammy-winning artist was arrested and hospitalized after Los Angeles police responded to reports about him walking the streets of Los Angeles’s San Fernando Valley. Authorities later alleged that three of their own were injured by Lil Nas X during the confrontation.
He was charged with three counts of battery against a police officer and one count of resisting an executive officer, but agreed to enter a mental health diversion program in April to have them dismissed.
Opening up about his mental health journey in a new Instagram video, Lil Nas X revealed that he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
“I’ve been in rehab for a few months and since then, I’ve been back at home whether it’s in Atlanta with my family or in Los Angeles with myself, friends and what not, and trying to ground myself down to earth and get out of my head,” he began. “I have a therapist now and a psychiatrist, which has been really helpful when I got my bipolar disorder diagnosis.”
He admitted that he felt like he had known about his condition for the past few years, “but I didn’t want to admit to it because I didn’t want to have to take medication and have people think different of me.”
“Black, gay, bipolar. I’m like living life on like extreme hard mode,” he added with a laugh.
Bipolar disorder is a relatively common mental health condition that typically develops around age 25, according to the Dauten Center for Bipolar Treatment Innovation. It is characterized by alternating episodes of mania or hypomania and major depression.
During Lil Nas X’s April hearing, the court found that the incident with police was the result of his since-diagnosed bipolar disorder and was a deviation from his usual behavior.
The judge told the “Old Town Road” singer that if he sticks to his treatment program and obeys all laws for two years, his four felony counts will be dismissed.
The program, formally known as a postponement of prosecution probation, also requires that he not possess guns or threaten violence.
If convicted, the rapper could have faced several years behind bars.
