Professor Green has spoken out to share advice to young people who are going through school with ADHD and autism.
The East London rapper, real name Stephen Manderson, was diagnosed with the conditions later in life and has spent several years working as a mental health activist and campaigner, in particular supporting the suicide prevention charity CALM.
He recently made an appearance on the BBC podcast Access All, a show that explores issues surrounding mental health and wellbeing, and he opened up about how not realising he had ADHD and autism impacted his own school days.
“I couldn’t put my uniform on,” he said. “It was the worst thing that had ever happened to me every single day. I used to count a lot, especially words when people were talking. I had a tic. I went to three primary schools, I went to two secondaries, a pupil referral unit, and then tried to sit my GCSEs twice over in college, but couldn’t.”
“I never knew what was going on then, I never knew how I struggled with the social aspect of it,” he continued. “I never understood the periodic burnouts, the physical manifestations of something psychological, the stress around it that impacted me, the constant stomach aches.”
When asked by host Emma Tracey what advice he would give to young people experiencing similar circumstances, he replied: “For me, I found comfort in music. I was really lucky, I put my headphones and I turned music up louder than would probably be comfortable for most people. My headphones was that place for me as well where I could go and be authentic. I can be happy, I can be sad.”
“So finding places where you can express, where you can feel and you can be authentic is the most important. So lean into whatever allows you to feel what you’re feeling.”
In 2021, Professor Green said he no longer feels the “pressure” that he did earlier in his career, admitting that he now has the “freedom” that he always “craved”.
“For someone who works a hell of a lot in and around mental health advocacy, I talk a really good game about taking care of myself,” he said. “I’m only now putting into practice that it’s good to stop and take stock.”
“It doesn’t mean you’re not going to get another opportunity if you say no to another tour. It means you might have a break which will inspire creativity and give you room to write records.”
His last major release was the 2023 EP ‘POPSHXT’, while a year earlier he released the Boris Johnson-taunting ‘Dance Like A Tory’.
