Kid Cudi got candid about a health scare that forced him to distance himself from music.
In an interview with Esquire, the rapper revealed that he suffered a stroke two weeks after being admitted to rehab for depression and drug addiction in 2016.
The 38-year-old said he had to be hospitalized after the stroke affected his speech and movement, telling the outlet that “everything was damn”.
After months of physical rehab, Cudi finally felt like his breakthrough when he auditioned for the Broadway play “Lobby Hero” with Michael Cera.
The “Mr. Rager” rapper had to memorize a lot of dialogue for the role, which eventually went to another actor. Still, Cudi felt himself a winner in the end.
“I proved to myself that I can do it. I needed that at the time,” he told the outlet. “I was happy. Like, damn it, my brain is still strong. I didn’t lose anything in that moment when that happened.”
During the same interview, the rapper opened up “Pursuit of Happiness” about his ongoing feud with former boyfriend Kayne West. Cudi said he wants the “Donda” rapper to be “a grown man” and accept Kim Kardashian’s divorce petition.
“If you can’t be a grown man and deal with losing your wife? That’s not my f-king problem. You have to be on your guard, like any man in this life,” he said, adding: “I’ve lost women too. And I had to admit it. I don’t need that in my life.”
The couple’s feud began last year when Kardashian dated comedian Pete Davidson, one of Cudi’s close friends.
Given their close friendship, West eventually removed the rapper — whose real name is Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi — from his “Danda 2” album.
The decision “angered” the “Day ‘N’ Nite” rapper, who claims it would take a “mother king miracle” for the performers to mend their relationship after it took such a toll on his mental health.
“You know what it feels like to wake up one day, look at your social media and you’re trending because someone is talking about you?” he explained. “And then you have this person’s trolls who message you on Instagram and Twitter? Anything in your comments?”
Mescudi has a long history as a mental health advocate – something he is very proud of.
“It’s a lot of pressure, but it keeps me alive. So I’ll take it. It doesn’t stress me out,” he told the outlet when asked if he ever got “tired” of being a mental health spokesperson.
“It makes me think, ‘No, Scott. You need to be here. Let old age take you outside.’”