Kim Kardashian breaks silence on Kanye West's mental health and asks for 'compassion and empathy'

• Kim Kardashian West released a statement addressing Kanye West's mental health on Wednesday.
• Her message follows the rapper's recent political rally and a series of since-deleted tweets about the Kardashian family.
• She said West had bipolar disorder, adding that she decided to speak up because of "the stigma and misconceptions about mental health."
• The reality star requested "compassion and empathy" from the public and media and thanked those who have "expressed concern for Kanye's well being."

Kim Kardashian West addressed Kanye West's mental health Wednesday in a statement she released on Instagram.

The reality star's message came days after the rapper mentioned their 7-year-old daughter North West during an emotional antiabortion speech at his first political rally and proceeded to share a series of since-deleted tweets about the Kardashian family.

"As many of you know, Kanye has bi-polar disorder," Kardashian West wrote. "Anyone who has this or has a loved one in their life who does, knows how incredibly complicated and painful it is to understand."

She said she'd never spoken publicly about his mental health in an effort to protect the privacy of her husband and their four children. She said, however, that "the stigma and misconceptions about mental health" led her to speak out.

She said because West wasn't a minor she was left "powerless" in getting her husband help "no matter how hard family and friends try."

Referring to West as a "brilliant and complicated person" who could prompt "strong opinions and emotions," the Skims founder who starred on "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" said the pressures of being a Black artist, the loss of his mother, Donda West, in 2007, and isolation during the pandemic had all taken a toll on the musician's mental health.

Experts have expressed concerns about the long-term impacts the pandemic might have on people's mental health.

And in a survey conducted by Kaiser Family Foundation, 45% of adults in the US said the pandemic had affected their mental health.

At the end of her statement, Kardashian West requested that the public and the news media give her family "compassion and empathy" and thanked those she said had "expressed concern for Kanye's well being."

West has previously opened up about his mental health, revealing his diagnosis on his 2018 album, "Ye."

The rapper also described his experiences with manic episodes during an episode of Netflix's "My Next Guest Needs No Introduction" with David Letterman.

"When you're in this state, you're hyper-paranoid about everything," he said. "Everyone. This is my experience. Some people have other experiences. Everyone now is an actor. Everything is a conspiracy. You see everything. You feel the government is putting chips in your head. You feel you're being recorded. You feel all of these things."

West also used the idea of a sprained ankle to help the audience understand his point.

"It is a health issue. This is like a sprained brain, like having a sprained ankle," he said, pointing to his head.

He continued, "And if someone has a sprained ankle, you're not going to push on him more. With us, when our brain gets to the point of spraining, people do everything to make it worse."