Gucci Mane’s memoir Episodes: The Diary of a Recovering Mad Man (with Quincie Zari)

Glamorous Trash: A Celebrity Memoir Podcast

Host Chelsea Devontes and guest Quincie Zari dive into Gucci Mane's memoir, 'Episodes: The Diary of a Recovering Mad Man.' They explore the

Key takeaways

• Gucci Mane's memoir details his struggle with bipolar disorder and paranoid schizophrenia diagnoses following a period of intense substance use.
• The book explores how 'lean' (codeine and promethazine) served as a significant trigger for his mental health decline and erratic behavior.

Main topics

• Gucci Mane's memoir 'Episodes'
• Mental health and schizophrenia

Notable quotes

My mental health is my priority now.

Conclusion

The episode offers a heavy but ultimately reflective look at how indiv

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:04) Welcome to Glamorous Trash. This is a podcast that book clubs celebrity memoirs, trashy discourse, and all things literary to elevate your life. I'm your host, Chelsea Devontes. I'm a TV writer, comedian, filmmaker, author, and sometimes I'm in stuff too. And today we're book clubbing Gucci Mane's memoir titled Episodes, The Diary of a Recovering Madman. This was published in October, 2025, and we got so many messages. at different points to cover this book. And then I got one that changed Speaker 1 (0:37) everything. And I said, this book is coming on the podcast. Now, Speaker 2 (0:41) if you don't know who Gucci Mane is, he is one of the trailblazers of the trap music genre. He's known for songs like Lemonade, Icy, and Black Beatles. He's also featured on the iconic Mariah Carey track, Obsessed. I think that might be my number one Mariah Carey song. Like, definitely according to my Spotify. That's the one I listen to the most. He's a New York Times bestselling author, and he had a role in the 2012 movie Spring Breakers, which I haven't seen. But I bet a lot of people have. Okay, here to recap the book to me is Quinn. Quincy Zari. Now, you might remember Quincy from our episode on Destiny's Child, Michelle Williams' memoir, with another GT favorite, Takara Elise, as the host. Quincy is a creative producer, model, and comedian originally from the Pacific Northwest. They have lent their good looks to brands like JBL, Macy's, Thinx, Hollister, and Refinery29. Quincy describes herself as a pop culture-obsessed blurt. Now, Quincy, we are covering this book today. Because of an Instagram reel you DMed me earlier this summer. It's crazy real footage of someone at a party. And through the crowd, they're capturing this sad white man really passionately and sincerely, not a bit, having a heated argument. Speaker 1 (1:58) With himself. With himself. Speaker 2 (1:59) Because there was a mirror in the club and he caught that mirror and he said something that he didn't like. And he's having like a close and heated fight with himself in the mirror. And you're like, uh-oh, it's both the funniest thing I've ever seen and also like what happened to that man. And then over that video, the text, this is what it feels like to read Gucci Mane's memoir. Speaker 1 (2:20) Oh my gosh. Okay, so there's something in the book that happens very similar and I don't want to give it away quite yet. Oh, Speaker 2 (2:26) okay, Speaker 1 (2:26) okay. When I first saw that video, I did giggle because, you know, social media, when you're doing your scrolls, it's like a little funny because why is this guy screaming at himself in the mirror? But when you think about it, that guy is going through something. And the fact that there was people around him probably could have been a friend, could have been just a random person recording him. But I wonder if anyone went to help him. And I wonder what happened the rest of that night. Was he able to find help or is he still out there struggling? That's a really good encapsulation because... Speaker 2 (2:59) Yeah. I mean, the video's so, I couldn't stop laughing because it's not like a screaming, someone losing their mind. It was as if he was having an intellectual conversation about like a book they disagreed on and like the little gestures he's making, but you're right. It's like, but no, there's something like much deeper and darker here. And like what happened after the video stopped recording. And I guess sadly to the detriment of my character, I said, we better cover this memoir off of watching that. And so before we dive in, I just want to give a trigger warning. Very, very, very, like incredible story you're about to listen to. However, trigger warning also, a lot of violence, substance use, racism, suicidal ideation, and other heavy topics. So it is a heavy episode. So please take care while listening. All right, now let's dive in. Speaker 2 (3:56) Okay, Quincy, take us into the book. What's the first big thing you encountered or came away with as you were reading? Speaker 1 (4:05) Okay, well, I have to say... I think this is one of the very few memoirs that takes accountability or accountability takes the front seat, which- He might even make it out of the memoir category. I might not have to call it a memoir if he really takes accountability. This might actually be a memoir. It's pretty good. Let's decide by Speaker 2 (4:23) the end of the episode. This is exact. Speaker 1 (4:25) And I think this book is an excellent example of how the mass industrial prison complex manifests in somebody's life. This book is a great example, again, of how mental health exacerbates- an already fragile situation, but it's also taking like these macro structures that we all talk about all the time, sharing things on social, but how it happens on the micro, on an interpersonal level. Yeah, Speaker 2 (4:50) like his Speaker 1 (4:50) specific story. Day Speaker 2 (4:52) to day, Speaker 1 (4:52) exactly. And this is like how we can take that jargon and actualize it because I think that the overarching theme of this book is about how when people do serious wrong, What does accountability look like? When we hold people on the day-to-day accountable, what does that repair actually look like instead of throwing people away? When Speaker 2 (5:13) I was a wee young comedy thing, I just remember I definitely had a like, you don't like women? To prison with you! Never come back, you know? And only through watching that, like, if cancel culture worked, I'd be for it. But it's like, it doesn't. It actually doesn't work. Like, if it worked to cancel someone and they become a better person and the world gets better than, like, I'd be for that culture, but, like, it doesn't work. And so I've been really interested in learning more exactly about what you're talking about. I'm excited to take this journey through Gucci. And Speaker 1 (5:45) I also have to say, to preface for people out there, when we talk about abolishing prisons, changing the system, yes, there are people out there that have antisocial personalities, are actual sexual predators. I'm going to set a precedent now that most people in this world are good or at least neutral. Wow, wow, wow. And Speaker 2 (6:05) I think Speaker 1 (6:05) it's as beautiful, small, young people, you know, we come into this world innocent and wanting for the best. And we just want to vibe as children. And the world takes us down. That's beautiful. It's just like. how do we create a society where we can give people another chance is really big. But it's Speaker 2 (6:25) a Speaker 1 (6:25) long time to pack. We'll get there. I also want to, up top, before we get into the book, the timeline of a few things are a little confusing. Specifically, the timeline of Keisha and Gucci Mane's relationship. This is his marriage? His wife, yes. His current wife. She's mentioned in the book, but we don't really know when they got together and then when are they getting married? It's very confusing. So I wanted to set the stage for that. And then I also want to talk about his charges just a wee bit before we get into the book. Okay, Speaker 2 (6:53) so Gucci did go to prison. And you're going to talk about the charges against him. Speaker 1 (6:58) Yes, because it gets a little confusing in terms of timeline in the book. And I don't get a lot to get through and I don't want to be like... talking about every charge. I will say the bulk of the charges are weapons charges and drug charges, but I wanted to highlight the two that kind of gave me pause that he doesn't really go into in the book. And I think it's really important to share this because it comes back to the conversation of accountability and rehabilitation and like, how do we bring people back into society when we know that they've done true harm? Gucci's robbed a lot of people. He would rob people for fun. We'll hear about that in the book. In 2005, he was charged with murder, but it was ultimately dropped. It was deemed a self-defense because five men attempted to rob him at his home. In 2011, he pleaded guilty to aggravated assault for pushing a woman out of a moving vehicle, and he received a six-month sentence. Speaker 2 (7:52) Okay, so here's the breakdown of what happened. I want to read this from The Hollywood Reporter. In 2011, according to a police report, he picked up a woman at a local mall, invited her out for breakfast, and then tried to offer her $150 to stop by a hotel with him. When she refused, he pushed her out of his car while it was in motion. She was taken to the hospital with, quote, soreness and pain. And then, according to Billboard, he pled guilty to two counts of battery, two counts of reckless conduct, and one count of disorderly conduct. And he was sentenced to six months in prison, and he was released after three months. months, I believe, for good behavior. And then TMZ reports that there was also a civil lawsuit where the woman was awarded a little less than $60,000 for medical expenses, Speaker 1 (8:37) lost wages, pain and suffering. So Speaker 2 (8:40) yeah, that is really horrific to take in. And knowing that that's why he was in jail is really terrifying and traumatizing for that woman. And now let's jump back into the episode. Speaker 1 (8:52) As we get through the book, we'll hear that he goes in and out of jail, probation, da-da-da, until ultimately he does go to prison. And I also want to note that this is his third book. He had an autobiography in 2017. And in 2021, he put out like a self-help book. We know we love these at Glamorous Trash. It's this Gucci guide to greatness. And then this is his third book and a memoir. And this book is revisiting the moments in his life through the lens of mental health. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and paranoid schizophrenia in 2013. And he ignored his diagnosis and went along into a deep substance abuse. issue for about 10 years. And then the book was actually created in honor of his friend, Scar, who passed away due to a drug overdose. So yeah, Speaker 2 (9:40) what I've heard is that this book is the best book of the three and like really delivering on the memoir premise. Now I just have to point out, so you did Michelle Williams' book with us, which was like sort of self-help and mental health. Now you're back with a real mental health book. Is Speaker 1 (9:57) this your beat, Quincy? I guess so. You guys found out that I'm a psych minor. And we said, we have some books for you to read. Speaker 2 (10:06) Well, Speaker 1 (10:06) okay. Are you ready to get in the book? I'm ready. Okay. So we start the book with a very troubling conversation between Gucci Mane and Scar. So Scar, like I mentioned, was a friend and also an artist that Gucci had represented under his 1017 label. And Scar had been struggling with substance use. And over the phone, he says, I'm done with this. I can't take it anymore. And Gucci responds, do you feel like you want to hurt yourself? And he didn't respond. And so Gucci knows that this is coded language for I want to end my life. And Gucci understands this because at the time of this phone call, Gucci had already been through all of that he had been through. And he knew what it was like to feel like your brain was betraying you. And it felt like a ticking time bomb. I'm going to read an excerpt from the book. She told him to ask if he had eaten that day. And he couldn't remember. You could hear the anxiety growing in his voice. The conversation for him turned into an interrogation. That's when he told us he wanted to kill himself. Tick, tick, tick. And the bomb went off. He was such in a bad way, I started to panic. And Keisha put her hand on my arm and whispered, tell him that you love him and that you're there for him. I love you, Scar. I'm here for you. I meant every word of it. And he could tell. So essentially... Gucci has made it through all of his treatment, his rehabilitation, and now he's back with his label with all these young men and trying to be a mentor while also noticing that a lot of these men are also falling victim to the same path that Gucci was. And wanting to be able to show them the way, give them the resources, share his own experiences, but unfortunately... Things didn't necessarily end up that way. Scar ultimately ended up passing away due to an accidental overdose on December 22nd, 2022. And this book was made with Scar in mind. He wanted to be able to give Scar this book and Scar to read it and really understand completely that they're going through the same things and he's not alone. But now this book is just an honor and dedication to Scar and to other people who are struggling. Speaker 2 (12:09) So Speaker 1 (12:09) we pivot from there. And we get more of a foundational story of Gucci's life and upbringing in the South. He's from Bessemer, Alabama, which is about 20 minutes outside of Birmingham. So the 1017 label, which is his label, that was actually his granddaddy's house. So they lived on 1017. First Avenue. So Gucci straight up, he just goes, I was five when I watched my first KKK march through my town. The population was about 20K and everyone was there to witness the Klan waving flags, some Confederate, some American flags. But every symbol there was telling Black people, we don't care about you and we don't give a F