During a TMZ Live segment Tuesday, Kanye West revealed he was addicted to opioids a couple years ago. "I was drugged the f*ck out, bro," he told everyone in the TMZ newsroom. He added, "I was addicted to opioids." According to the rapper, he got hooked on opioids he was prescribed after getting liposuction. West also said his 2016 hospitalization, which resulted in him canceling the remainder of his Saint Pablo tour, was due to opioids. At the time of his hospitalization two years ago, West's rep said it was due to exhaustion.
"Two days before I was in the hospital, I was on opioids," he said during his interview with TMZ. "I was addicted to opioids. I had plastic surgery, because I was trying to look good for y'all. I got liposuction, because I didn't want y'all to call me fat like you all called Rob [Kardashian] at the wedding and made him fly home before me and Kim [Kardashian] got married."
In August 2016, Rob explained the reason he skipped Kimye's wedding and admitted it had to do with his appearance. "I was doing my suit fittings in Paris right before the wedding and I just wasn't comfortable," he told People. "I'm 6'1" and at my most I probably weighed 300 lbs. There were cameras at the airport on our trip there and I was very unhappy with the person I saw in all the pictures. I’m upset I missed my sister’s wedding but it was a personal decision."
West's opioid addiction discussion didn't stop there, as he also said he started taking two pills at a time and driving to work while on them. The Life of Pablo artist also said someone on his team would pick up the opioids for him. One day, West said this unidentified person said to him, "You know this is used to kill genius?" So, West said he didn't take those particular pills, but two days later he ended up in the hospital.
"I was taking two pills a day at that time," the Yeezy designer continued. "When I left the hospital, how many pills do you think I was given? Seven! I went from taking two pills to taking seven."
West also explained the reason for all those tweets he posted in 2016 and made headlines for. According to him, the reason he "dropped those tweets" is because he was "drugged the f*ck out, bro".
At the end of his opioid discussion with TMZ, West turned his attention to the media. "Y'all had me scared of myself, of my vision, so I took some pills so I wouldn't go to the hospital and prove everyone right," he said. "We are drugged out. We are following other people's opinions. We are controlled by the media and today it all changes."
On April 23, Hot 97 radio host Ebro Darden said West told him around the time of the rapper's hospitalization he had an opioid addiction. According to Darden, West told him, "Nobody really showed love for me when I was addicted to opioids and in the hospital." Darden said he told West that wasn't true and several people tried to help him.
The rest of TMZ's interview with West included the rapper calling slavery a "choice". He said, "When you hear about slavery for 400 years — for 400 years? That sounds like a choice." He also talked about President Donald Trump and continued to profess his "love" for him. "I just love Trump. That's my boy," he told TMZ. "So many rappers [used to] love Trump, but then he get into office, and now they don't love him. Trump is one of rap's favorite people."
Recently, West has been making the news for his tweets, particularly the political ones. Many times, West's mental health has been called into question, but Kim quickly came to his defense on Twitter by writing, "To the media trying to demonize my husband let me just say this... your commentary on Kanye being erratic & his tweets being disturbing is actually scary. So quick to label him as having mental health issues for just being himself when he has always been expressive is not fair."
On April 30, Kim tweeted, "Twitter is such a bette [sic] place with @kanyewest on here [heart eyes emoji]". For West's part, he tweeted a link to TMZ's story about him revealing his opioid addiction.
