Kanye West's family 'very concerned' about him following controversial outburst

Kanye West's family is reportedly "very concerned" for the rapper with reports suggesting he's "in the middle of a serious bipolar episode".

The 43-year-old announced his decision to run for President of the United States on Twitter and was later interviewed by Forbes on Wednesday.

In the article, Kanye slammed Planned Parenthood, saying it's run by "white supremacists who do the Devil's work". These comments have drawn widespread criticism.

The Planned Parenthood website reveals their health centres "provide a wide range of safe, reliable health care — and the majority is preventive care, which helps prevent unintended pregnancies through contraception, reduce the spread of sexually transmitted infections through testing and treatment, and screen for cervical and other cancers".

"I am pro-life because I'm following the word of the Bible,” Kanye said.

Nia Martin-Robinson, the director of Black Leadership and Engagement at Planned Parenthood’s national headquarters, told TMZ: "Black women are free to make our own decisions about our bodies and pregnancies, and want and deserve to have access to the best medical care available."

"Any insinuation that abortion is Black genocide is offensive and infantilising," she said.

"The real threat to Black communities safety, health, and lives stems from lack of access to quality, affordable health care, police violence and the criminalisation of reproductive health care by anti-abortion opposition."

Kim Kardashian publicly supported Planned Parenthood in 2017, sharing a photo of herself and sisters Khloe and Kourtney with members of the organisation at the time.

"They are such an amazing place that provides so much to so many,” she said at the time.

In the Forbes interview, Kanye also revealed he's not running as a Republican or Democrat, but under a new party which he calls The Birthday Party, "because when we win, it's everybody's birthday".

In the same chat, the rapper claimed he had coronavirus in February, claiming prayer was the cure and that he's "extremely cautious" of a vaccine for the virus.

"It's so many of our children that are being vaccinated and paralyzed… So when they say the way we're going to fix COVID is with a vaccine, I'm extremely cautious," he said.

According to TMZ, Kanye suffers from a serious bipolar episode approximately once a year and his decision-making abilities are hindered.

"Our sources say his family and those close to him are worried, but they believe things will stabilize as they have in the past,” the publication wrote.

"The problem here, is that Kanye's proclamations are causing problems."

In 2018, Kanye spoke to David Letterman about his bipolar diagnosis, saying he doesn't take his medication because it "stifles [his] creativity".

He also said that he feels discriminated against because of his mental health issues.

"I can just tell you what I'm feeling at the time. I feel a heightened connection with the universe when I'm ramping up.

"It's a health issue, this is a sprained brain, like a sprained ankle. When someone has a sprained ankle, you're not going to push on him more. With us, once our brain gets to a point of spraining, people do everything to make it worse.

"They do everything possible. They got us to that point and they do everything to make it worse."

At times, Kanye will experience periods of severe mania where he feels hyper-paranoia and believes everyone is out to get him.

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