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Kanye West's childhood friend: 'I saw his breakdown coming'

Written by . Published: September 20 2017

Kanye West's rapper friend Glc wasn't surprised when the Stronger hitmaker was hospitalized following a breakdown last year (16), insisting he saw it coming.


Kanye cut short his 2016 tour in late November (16) after he was hospitalized for "temporary psychosis" caused by dehydration and sleep deprivation, just weeks after his wife Kim Kardashian was held at gunpoint and robbed in Paris, France.

West's childhood friend, real name Leonard Harris, believes the sudden death of West's mother Donda in 2007 put the rapper in "a dark place", and he was never the same after the tragedy. He explains he tried to help West after his actions at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards - when he infamously crashed the stage during Taylor Swift's acceptance speech - made GLC realize something was wrong, but couldn't get through to his old friend.

"I tried to rearrange his brain," he tells Life & Style magazine. "But he tried to snap on me."

"I said, 'Look, dude, slow down, get your mind right for the limelight'," he explains. "He wasn't in a place... to be receptive."

GLC kept an eye on Kanye's career and watched his childhood pal in interviews, explaining he no longer saw the person he remembers.

"It's like his body is there, but (not) his soul and his spirit," he says. "It's somewhere else."

And he was surprised when West appeared on his mother-in-law Kris Jenner's short-lived talk show in 2013.

"I knew he was losing it," he continues. "I was like, 'Who is this dude? Did they put a trance on him?' I thought someone had him hypnotised!"

However, he doesn't blame Jenner or Kanye's wife Kim Kardashian for his alleged issues.

"I don't know the Kardashian family, so I can't blame them," he adds.

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