Chris Rock Reveals He Was Recently Diagnosed with Nonverbal Learning Disorder

Chris Rock is opening up about his being diagnosed with a learning disorder.

After a nine-hour series of cognitive tests earlier this year, the 55-year-old actor was diagnosed with nonverbal learning disorder (NVLD). In an interview with THR, Chris says that the condition means he has challenges interpreting nonverbal signals in social situations.

“And all I understand are the words,” Chris said of frequently understanding things in their most literal meanings. “By the way, all of those things are really great for writing jokes — they’re just not great for one-on-one relationships.”

Throughout the majority of his life, Chris wrote off his condition, not fully understanding how it affected his daily life.

“I’d always just chalked it up to being famous,” Chris said. “Any time someone would respond to me in a negative way, I’d think, ‘Whatever, they’re responding to something that has to do with who they think I am.’ Now, I’m realizing it was me. A lot of it was me.”

Now, Chris commits to seven hours of therapy every week, while also processing childhood traumas.

“I thought I was actually dealing with it, and the reality is I never dealt with it,” Chris added. “The reality was the pain and the fear that that brought me, I was experiencing it every day.”

Chris recently did this for the first time at 55!