*Gucci Mane is offering a candid look into the personal struggles that shaped his life before stability and success became more consistent parts of his story. In an conversation with ABC’s Nightline, the Atlanta rapper revisited his mental health diagnoses and the long road that followed years of public controversy and legal issues.
Gucci Mane, born Radric Davis, describes earlier periods of his life through what he now calls “episodes,” a term he uses to explain moments when his mental state was significantly disrupted. “The episode is brief, days – or up to a week to a month – of you not really thinking rational,” he said Okay Player reports. “Hearing voices, not being myself and at the same time doing things that are super irresponsible. It’s a total loss of control. It starts just building like a snowball.”
Those experiences are also central to his 2025 book “Episodes,” which he wrote with the intention of helping others facing similar challenges. “I wanted to help people,” he explained. “I [needed] to write a book to kind of be like a handbook or a manual for artists that are going through something — to let them know, ‘Hey, I’ve been through this. If I can do it, you can do it. And this is what I did to get past it.’”
Gucci Mane has previously made headlines for a series of legal incidents and erratic public moments. He also served time in federal prison after a 2014 conviction for firearm possession, later released in 2016. Looking back, he links much of that behavior to untreated mental health struggles. “I never had got treatment or help,” he said, describing how things escalated without support or structure in place.
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Substance use also factored into that period of instability, something he now acknowledges as part of a broader cycle that affected his behavior and decisions. “I struggled with mental health challenges and I struggled with addiction problems, too. And both sides can derail you,” he said.
Today, Gucci Mane credits treatment and the support of his wife, Keyshia Ka’oir, for helping him regain control and maintain stability after years marked by repeated setbacks, including roughly twenty jail experiences throughout his life.
Watch Gucci’s “Nightline” special in the clip below.
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