Kanye West has shared a Thanksgiving prayer to his Instagram page. In the five-minute spoken-word piece, the rapper speaks openly and honestly about his mental health, politics, religion, and narcissism, and the strain it has put on his family.
At the onset, Kanye says, “All I think about every day is how I get my family back together, and how I heal the pain that I’ve caused” his wife, Kim Kardashian. (Kanye and Kim separated following a six-year marriage in February 2021. She has since begun dating Pete Davidson).
“I take accountability for my actions,” Kanye continues, adding that he’s coined a new term: ‘misactions.” He goes on to admit that “the one thing that all my successes and failures have in common is me,” and proceeds to detail each of his failures: alcohol, episodes, ego, temper, religion, politics, and finances.
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Regarding his mental health, Kanye says, “I went into a manic episode in 2016 and was placed under heavy medication. Since then I went on and off the medication, which left me susceptible to other episodes, which my wife and family and fans have had to endure.” He also admits to have anger issues: “that screaming did not help me keep my family together.”
Addressing his Christianity, Kanye says, “When I got saved, it did not immediately make me a better person. It made me a self-righteous Christian — mix that with being rich, famous, and very very very very very very attractive, and you got a molotov cocktail ready to be thrown through the window of anyone who ever disagreed with me. I was arrogant with my Jesus.”
He’s similarly contrite when it comes to his politics. “Good Lord, my wife did not like me wearing the red hat, he says. “Being a good wife, she just wanted to protect me and our family. I made me and our family a target by not aligning with Hollywood’s political stance, and that was hard for our marriage.”
Kanye goes on to address his failed 2020 run for president, which he says was done “without proper preparation, and no allies on either side. I embarrassed my wife in the way that I presented information about our family, during the one, and thank God, only press conference. All my dad had to say afterwards was, ‘write your speech next time son.’”
“I’ve had to learn that I had to take accountability,” Kanye says to close his prayer. “We always judge and tell other people what they should do, but we can only take accountability for ourselves, and our children. This Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for the family that my wife has given me, I’m thankful for the life that God has given me, and I’m thankful for your time, attention, and patience. In Jesus name, Amen.”
Watch Kanye’s full Thanksgiving prayer below.
