Kanye West’s increasingly weird meltdowns that led to hospital visit… and the 2002 near-fatal car crash that may have sparked the birth of ranting ‘Yeezus’

believes the “near-death experience led to a revitalised and uncompromising pursuit of goals” and Kanye may have used the trauma to find his place in the world.

2004

Kanye stormed out of the American Music Awards in November 2004 after losing the Best New Artist gong to country music star, Gretchen Wilson.

He later told reporters: "I felt like I was definitely robbed, and I refused to give any politically correct bulls***-ass comment ... I was the best new artist this year."

He questioned the award show’s voting process, vowed never to return to the AMAs and said there is a “massive conspiracy” against him.

2005

Kanye rapidly began to attract more media attention for his controversial outbursts in the run-up to the Grammy Awards in February 2005.

He hits back at his ‘haters’ by appearing to die and then rise from the ashes during an elaborate performance at the ceremony.

He donned an enormous pair of angel wings as a full gospel choir wailed and thrust its arms towards heaven.

College Dropout was named Best Rap Album and Kanye told the audience: "A lot of people were wondering what I was going to do if I didn't win anything ... I guess we'll never know.”

Dr Kitson says Kanye’s obsession with comparing himself to God - he has penned a track called 'I Am God' - is “not a psychiatric diagnosis” but refers to “an individual’s inflated and persistent belief in their inherent ability, privilege and infallibility”.

In December 2005, Kanye stunned viewers after declaring “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” during a live TV fundraiser for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

He later apologised saying, “I would tell George Bush, in my moment of frustration, I didn’t have the ground to call him a racist."

2006

Clearly annoyed that he wasn’t getting the recognition he deserved, Kanye stormed the stage once again at the MTV Europe Music Awards in November 2006.

He interrupted DJ duo Justice and Simian’s acceptance speech and said his video for ‘Touch The Sky’ should have won because it "cost a million dollars and Pamela Anderson was in it".

2007

Kanye’s life took a heartbreaking turn when his mum, Donda West, died of complications from cosmetic surgery involving a tummy tuck and breast reduction in November 2007.

Months later, he split with long-term girlfriend Alexis Phifer and ended their engagement.

Speaking to Q Magazine in 2015, he said he feels responsible for his mother’s death: “If I had never moved to LA, she’d be alive. I don’t want to go far into it because it would bring me to tears.”

He wrote Only One as a tribute to his mum and honoured her at his 2014 wedding to Kim Kardashian.

Later that year, he had another meltdown at the MTV Video Music Awards.

This time because his performance of Stronger took place in the Palms' Hugh Hefner Sky Villa and not on the main stage.

2008

Living in the spotlight became a struggle for the Stronger hit maker and in September 2008 Kanye and his bodyguard Don Crowley were arrested at Los Angeles International Airport after fighting with a paparazzo.

They reportedly threw his camera to the ground and smashed it for taking pictures without asking  permission. They were charged with felony vandalism.

Kanye was arrested two months later at the Hilton hotel near Gateshead after another scuffle involving a photographer outside the Tup Tup Palace nightclub in Newcastle. He was later released “with no further action,” according to a police spokesperson.

Dr Kitson believes Kanye "simultaneously rejects and worships fame".

2009

Perhaps Kanye’s most famous celebrity feud is with Taylor Swift – and it’s still ongoing.

It started at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards when he interrupted then 19-year-old Taylor’s acceptance speech for Video of the Year, to say that Beyonce’s Single Ladies should have won.

He told the stunned audience: “Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you and I’mma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time. One of the best videos of all time!”

The pair briefly made up but the saga was reignited in July when Kim Kardashian released audio recordings of a phone conversation Kanye had with Taylor over the controversial lyrics to his song, Famous.  

He raps: “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex. Why? I made that b**** famous.”

Dr Kitson says Kanye embodies attention-seeking tendencies "by not limiting the scope of what he is willing to take a strong stance on, and seems unconcerned with the credibility of what he does — 'just do it big' is his mantra".

2010

Kanye's love life descends into chaos as he splits with Amber Rose, a stripper and fashion muse, whom he had dated for two years.

The fallout turned ugly with Amber insisting the rapper could never be faithful and claiming he cheated on her with "homewrecker" Kim Kardashian.

She told The Post: “He is your typical rapper in the industry. He can’t be faithful, and it’s not just with one person. He’s just unfaithful with lots of different women.”

After trading bitter insults on social media, they later made up and Kanye tried to make amends and gave her a shout out during his monologue at the MTV VMAs, saying, “I see you Amber!”

2011

During at appearance at Britain's Big Chill Festival, Kanye told crowds: "I walk through the hotel and I walk down the street, and people look at me like I'm f****** insane, like I'm Hitler."

The bold statement made international headlines, for obvious reasons.

2012

With speculation hitting fever pitch, Kanye released a single in April 2012 confessing his love for Kim Kardashian.

In December, the hip-hop artist announced the couple were expecting their first child during an Atlantic City show when he asked the crowd to "make some noise" for his "baby mama".

They are now parents to daughter North and son Saint.

2013

Kanye's erratic behaviour had led him to become a worldwide laughing stock - a position that angered him.

American chat show host Jimmy Kimmel spoofed an interview Kanye did with the BBC, in which he declared himself the “number one rock star on the planet”, using child actors.

Kanye took to Twitter to vent at the late-night presenter: “Jimmy Kimmel is out of line to try and spoof in any way the first piece of honest media in years.

“Jimmy Kimmel, I don’t take it as a joke ... you don’t have scumbags hopping over fences trying to take pictures of your daughter.

“Jimmy Kimmel put yourself in my shoes ... oh no that means you would have gotten too much good pussy in your life.

“You can’t put yourself in my shoes. Your face looks crazy ... is that funny? Or if I had a kid say it would it be funny??”

Meanwhile, Justin Timberlake taunted Kanye while hosting Saturday Night Live after the rapper slammed his track Suit & Tie.

Justin changed the lyrics from 'S*** so sick got a hit and pick up a habit' to 'My hit’s so sick got rappers acting dramatic'.

2015

Kanye was forced to apology to indie band Beck for saying they should give their Grammy Award to Beyonce.

He also said sorry to Wiz Khalifa and Amber Rose after ranting about their son. He tweeted: “You wouldn’t have a child if it wasn’t for me,” and “You own waves???? I own your child!!!!”

He later took down the posts because it’s all about “positive energy, blessings, blessings, positive energy, blessings.”

Kanye later added, “God’s dream… Never speak on kids again… all love … all blessings.”

In September 2015, he asked concertgoers to get to their feet in Sydney and went on to make snide remarks about disabled spectators in wheelchairs.

2016

Over a decade of controversy, fall outs and personal plights has accumulated in an extremely troublesome years for Kanye.

At New York Fashion Week in September he reportedly turned on his own staff, blaming them for the poor reviews of his Yeezy showcase.

A source told the New York Post: “He had his agent fire all 30 of his staff after the fashion show and got rid of his phone so people can only contact him via email.

“He had a nervous breakdown after the show, and that’s what triggered it all.”

In October he rushed off stage in Queens, New York, after receiving news his wife Kim Kardashian was robbed at gun point in Paris.

Later that month he raged at close pal Jay Z during a gig in Seattle, claiming he never called him after the robbery and that their kids are not friends.

In November, Kanye was booed at a concert in San Jose after telling the audience he didn’t vote, but if he did it would have been for Donald Trump.

He said: “If I would have voted, I would have voted for Trump. I wanted to say that before the election, but they told me, 'Whatever you do, don't say that aloud', he told a booing audience

“Not only did I not vote, but there were a lot of things I actually liked about Trump's campaign. His approach was f****** genius - because it worked.”

At a gig in California, he launched into an epic 10 minute rant about Beyonce, Jay Z, Hillary Clinton and Mark Zuckerberg before dropping the mic and walking off stage.

He cancelled a gig in Inglewood three hours before he was due on stage and spent the evening posting bizarre out-of-focus photos of pages from Maison Margiela lookbooks into his Instagram page.

Kanye was hospitalised on 22 November 2016 with NBC reporting he was taken to UCLA Medical Center "for his own health and safety".

Gossip site TMZ reported that he had to be handcuffed to a stretcher while he was transported to the hospital.