LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Sia revealed that she was diagnosed with a developmental disability in a recent conversation on 'Rob Has a Podcast' with 'Survivor' Season 44 finalist Carolyn Wiger. "I’m on the spectrum, and I’m in recovery and whatever — there’s a lot of things," the singer said on Thursday, May 25, and noted that she is sober.
The 47-year-old singer opened up about her autism diagnosis but did not mention when exactly she was diagnosed with the condition but suggested it was recently. According to CDC, autism spectrum can be "detected at 18 months of age or younger." Sia, whose full name is Sia Furler, said: "For 45 years, I was like… 'I’ve got to go put my human suit on'. And only in the last two years have I become fully, fully myself."
'We feel seen for the first time in our lives'
In her conversation with the 36-year-old 'Survivor' contestant, the 'Chandelier' singer said, "Nobody can ever know and love you when you’re filled with secrets and … living in shame, and when we finally sit in a room full of strangers and tell them our deepest, darkest, most shameful secrets, and everybody laughs along with us, and we don’t feel like pieces of trash for the first time in our lives, and we feel seen for the first time in our lives for who we actually are, and then we can start going out into the world and just operating as humans and human beings with hearts and not pretending to be anything."
'Music' film controversy
The Grammy nominee revealed the autism diagnosis two years after she faced backlash for casting a neurotypical Maddie Ziegler as a nonverbal autistic girl in her feature directorial debut 'Music', according to Page Six.
At the time, Sia urged the critics to "watch my film before you judge it" as she tweeted that her "heart has always been in the right place." Later, she apologized to the community. " 'Music' in no way condones or recommends the use of restraint on autistic people. There are autistic occupational therapists that specialize in sensory processing who can be consulted to explain safe ways to provide proprioceptive, deep-pressure feedback to help with meltdown safety," read the "warning" she added to the beginning of the Razzie-nominated film released in 2021.
In a 2022 interview, the 'Titanium' singer revealed that she was suicidal, and went to rehab after relapse following the musical drama film's release.
