Gucci Mane and his wife, Keyshia Ka’oir, are opening up about how they manage his mental health struggles—and the system they’ve created to keep him stable.
The Atlanta rapper, 45, recently released his third book, Episodes: The Diary of a Recovering Mad Man, where he revealed his diagnoses of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The book dives into his life, career, and past legal battles, shedding light on the mental health challenges he’s faced along the way.
In a joint interview on The Breakfast Club, the couple shared how they recognize and handle Gucci’s episodes.
Keyshia, 40, explained her hands-on approach: “I have a system. I take his apps off his phone. First thing I do is delete Instagram, delete everything. Even if I gotta change his password, I’m changing it because I don’t need the public to know he’s having an episode.”
She continued, “I control that. You’re not going on Instagram, you’re not going on Twitter, it’s deleted. I control everything at home.”
Keyshia also pointed out the warning signs she looks for before an episode hits: “He doesn’t speak to you, he wants to be left alone, he doesn’t eat, he doesn’t sleep. Text messages have a period after every word.”
Gucci added that during these episodes, he often doesn’t realize what’s happening. “It feels like psychosis or a warped world,” he said. “I’d hear voices in my mind and think people were against me.”
During those moments, Keyshia switches into “mother mode,” making sure he gets the care he needs—even when it’s scary. She recalled, “It was really, really bad. You’re seeing someone you don’t know. He’d say things that were so mean and disrespectful, but I’d remind myself, ‘I’m not talking to Gucci.’”
Schizophrenia affects around 2.4 million adults in the U.S. and involves distorted perceptions of reality, including hallucinations and delusions. Bipolar disorder causes extreme mood swings, with manic episodes followed by depressive lows, making it hard to predict when shifts will happen. Both conditions can disrupt daily life and relationships.
Gucci said a major turning point came during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, when he experienced a serious episode that pushed him to seek help.
“After that, I realized I had to hold myself accountable and take care of my health. I don’t ever want to have an episode again. If I have to see a therapist, if I have to take medicine… I just decided to do whatever it takes to get better.”
At the time, Keyshia was pregnant with their son, and Gucci worried about how his mental health might affect their future as a family. “I didn’t want to raise a family while my mental health was gone. What if I had an episode I couldn’t come back from?” he said.
Since then, he’s been in therapy and on medication, learning to recognize his triggers—like drug and alcohol use and stress.
Now, Gucci says he’s doing well and hasn’t had any recent episodes. He credits his recovery to the work he put in himself.
“You’ve got to do the work yourself if you want to get better,” he said. “People can want it for you, but you have to want it more than they do.”