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Scott Mescudi, better known as the artist Kid Cudi, has long been vocal about his mental health struggles. And six years ago, Cudi checked himself into rehab for anxiety, depression, and suicidal thought. But in the September 2022 cover story for Esquire, Cudi reveals that he suffered a stroke two weeks into his stay.
“Everything was f*cked,” he told the publication. In the months that ensued, Cudi says his motor skills slowed down and speech became impaired. So aside from healing his mind, the Grammy award winner now had to work even harder to heal his body, too.
However, it wouldn’t be until the following year that Cudi started to feel like himself again. He decided to challenge himself by auditioning for a part in the play Lobby Hero, alongside Michael Cera, Brian Tyree Henry, and Chris Evans.
And though he didn’t land the role, Cudi walked away with a renewed sense of self. “I proved to myself that I could do it. I needed that at the time,” he says. “I was happy. Like, damn, my brain is still strong. I didn’t lose something in that sh*t that happened.”
The 38-year-old discussed a number of other various topics, like his yet-unreleased Netflix show with Kenya Barris, Entergalactic (“It’s f*cking magic, you know.”) and the impact of Virgil Abloh’s passing on him. But the rapper/actor/producer couldn’t not address the public fallout between himself and former friend Kanye West.
“With all due respect, I’m not Drake, who’s about to take a picture with him next week and be friends again, and their beef is squashed,” Cudi said. “That’s not me. What I say, I mean. I will be done with you. It’s gonna take a motherf*cking miracle for me and that man to be friends again.”
Mescudi also addressed Ye’s habit of taking shots at him because of Cudi’s own friendship with Kim Kardashian’s former boyfriend, Pete Davidson, stressing, “If you can’t be a grown man and deal with the fact that you lost your woman? That’s not my fucking problem.”
“You need to own up to your sh*t like every man in this life has,” Cudi added. “I’ve lost women, too. And I’ve had to own up to it. I don’t need that in my life. I don’t need it.” Watch the video below to hear more of Cudi’s takes on his past TED Talk from 2015, Quinta Brunson, and more in his own words. And read his entire interview in the September ’22 issue of Esquire by clicking here.
