The musician Lil Nas X posted a video update to his Instagram on Wednesday morning saying he is receiving treatment for bipolar disorder and returning to music. In the nearly three-minute clip, the artist — born Montero Lamar Hill — said he has been in rehab for months and has since returned to his hometown of Atlanta, where his family lives, and to Los Angeles, where he resides.
“I’m doing much better,” he said. “I’m feeling better. I’m creating freely. And there’s less fear in my heart.”
The update follows a 2025 incident in which Lil Nas X was arrested and briefly taken to a hospital for a suspected overdose after Los Angeles police said he charged at officers who were responding to a report of a naked man walking on a busy boulevard in the San Fernando Valley. Authorities alleged the musician was walking nude down the street in only white briefs and white boots. A criminal complaint said three officers were hurt. He spent three days in jail before being released on $75,000 bail on the condition that he attend drug treatment. He pleaded not guilty to three counts of battery with injury on a police officer and one count of resisting an executive officer.
In April, Judge Alan Schneider allowed Lil Nas X to enter a mental health diversion program, finding the encounter was the result of his since-diagnosed bipolar disorder and appeared to be an aberration compared with his usual behavior. If he sticks to his treatment program and obeys all laws for two years, the four felony counts will be dismissed.
In Wednesday’s video, Lil Nas X publicly discussed his diagnosis for the first time. “I have a therapist now and a psychiatrist, which has been really helpful,” he said. “When I got my bipolar disorder diagnosis, I feel like I had known for the past few years, but I didn’t want to admit to it ‘cause I didn’t want to have to take medication and, I don’t know, have people think different of me.”
Bipolar disorder is a mental illness characterized by dramatic shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, and concentration, ranging from manic episodes of elevated or irritable behavior to depressive episodes of sadness or hopelessness.
Lil Nas X also told fans he is working on new music. “I’ve been doing music for seven years now,” he said. “I wanted to let you guys know there is new music on the way.” He added, “I love you and all I want to do is continue to try to make you proud and make myself proud.”
The Atlanta-raised artist is best known for the 2018 single “Old Town Road,” which spent a record 19 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned two Grammy Awards. His debut studio album, “Montero,” was released in 2021 and received a Grammy nomination for album of the year.