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In a candid interview with Billboard, rapper Wale welcomed the world into his personal life by opening up about his recent struggle with depression, substance abuse and his ex-girlfriend suffering a miscarriage.

He first revealed the miscarriage on his new track “The Matrimony,” which features R&B crooner Usher.

“The girl I was with, we tried for a long time to have a child,” he told Billboard. “And when she finally did [get pregnant], she miscarried at 10 or 11 weeks.”

Although the miscarriage occurred fairly early into the pregnancy, Wale admits that he already began making plans for his unborn child.

“I was visualizing my child’s face. We gave it a name and everything. All of that went away.”

Speaking of becoming a parent, Wale says that his relationship with his mother isn’t exactly the warmest.

“All these rappers, they do songs about their mothers. I’m Nigerian — my mother didn’t encourage me to do this. Even when [my first album] Attention Deficit came out and I had kind of made it, most parents would have been like, ‘My baby did it!’ but I don’t have that. My mom didn’t come to my [youth football league] games,” he explained. “I can’t even explain to my mom what my job entails. She just knows that all of her bills are going to be paid.”

Apparently, things have always been this way with the 30-year-old and his parents, which is why the opinions and approval of others means so much to him.

“I didn’t have one-on-ones with my mom or dad. I was in juvenile facilities a lot. My point is that I grew up with the outside world meaning the most to me. This is in hindsight — I’m trying to figure out why I’m this way. I rely on the people’s opinions, because I don’t have much outside of that.”

As for his internal battle with depression, the D.C. rapper explained that he was feeling down about his career, which led to his reliance on substances to keep him going.

“I was depressed not being where I wanna be in my career when I’ve put the work in,” he shared. “I wasn’t sleeping. I was drinking all day and I didn’t have anyone to go to. I couldn’t fight it. Those are some of the demons I talk about on the album.”

He admits that there was a drug for every kind of mood he was in.

“My confidence was shot, so I’d be taking whatever to keep me in a good mood, to get me in the right mood for an interview. I’m not going into the details as to what I was taking, but there’s definitely something for that. Just like there’s a f-ckin’ app for everything, there’s a damn pill for everything. Or something you can pour in your glass.”

Check out the rest of Wale’s interview here.

Follow Jazmine on Twitter @JazmineDenise

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