Kanye West: Bipolar disorder ‘episodes’ make me ‘hyper-paranoid’

Kanye West is getting candid about his struggle with bipolar disorder.

The “Ultralight Beam” rapper, 41, has publicly grappled with mental health issues and is now explaining exactly what happens to him when he goes on and off his medication.

“If you don’t take medication every day to keep you at a certain state, you have a potential to ramp up and it can take you to a point where you can even end up in the hospital,” West told David Letterman in a Season 2 episode of the Netflix series “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman” (via “Entertainment Tonight”). “And you start acting erratic, as TMZ would put it.”

TMZ founder Harvey Levin spoke with West on live TV last year in a headline-making interview in which West claimed slavery was a “choice” for black people. He also said he became addicted to opioids after undergoing liposuction.

West then clarified his comments, though his wife, Kim Kardashian, later admitted his public meltdown took a toll on their marriage.

“When you ramp up, it expresses your personality more. You can become almost more adolescent in your expression,” West explained. “This is my specific experience that I’ve had over the past two years because I’ve only been diagnosed for two years now.”

The Yeezy founder explained that when he goes through a severe “episode” that would land him in the hospital — as he was in 2016 after having a meltdown onstage during one of his concerts — he’s found that he often becomes paranoid.

“When you’re in this state, you’re hyper-paranoid about everything. Everyone — this is my experience, other people have different experiences — everyone now is an actor. Everything’s a conspiracy,” West shared. “You feel the government is putting chips in your head. You feel you’re being recorded. You feel all these things.

“You have this moment [when] you feel everyone wants to kill you. You pretty much don’t trust anyone,” he added.

Despite the hardships he has faced with his diagnosis, West acknowledged that his talent could stem from his issues.

“That’s just the reality. If you want these crazy ideas and these crazy stages, this crazy music and this crazy way of thinking, there’s a chance it might come from a crazy person,” West said, laughing.