Kanye West Breaks Down During Interview

while remembering his late friend louise wilson

Kanye West gave a forty minute interview to BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe this afternoon, and showed a side of himself the public has never seen before. When West began speaking of his friend, the late British fashion scholar Louise Wilson, he broke down in tears, forcing Lowe to momentarily stop the interview. West is prone to emotional outbursts during interviews (remember this?), but even he was surprised by his reaction. "That's never happened to me in an interview before," West said when he was finally ready to continue. Wilson, who counted Alexander McQueen, Jonathan Saunders, and Christopher Kane among her students, died suddenly last May at 52. West describes their last encounter over dinner at Hakkassan in London ("my favorite restaurant in London"), where she gave him advice not to clap when his daughter does something great so he can teach her to keep striving for more. His breakdown occurs at around the 26:20 mark, but as usual, the entire interview is worth a listen.