Professor Green (Stephen Manderson): British rapper, mental-health documentary maker, author, and entrepreneur who grew up in Hackney and became a successful UK hip-hop artist despite a deeply traumatic upbringing.
What this episode covers
Professor Green tells Steven Bartlett that his deepest scars were not single dramatic events but cumulative trauma absorbed across generations of a struggling family. He reflects on being raised largely by his great-grandmother, his father's absence and eventual suicide, surviving being stabbed in the neck, and a near-fatal car accident. The conversation digs into resilience, therapy, the gut-brain connection, the danger of over-diagnosing emotions, and learning to be present rather than catastrophizing. He also discusses moving on from toxic relationships, the meaning of closure, and his transition from being the product to running a business while preparing to release new music.
Recommended on this episode
Lost Connections
Johann Hari
“from reading one of my favorite books which is up there called lost connections by johanna hari was i used to think growing up”— Steven Bartlett
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
Happy Sexy Millionaire
Steven Bartlett
“my debut book happy sexy millionaires just become a sunday times best seller um but that's not what i want to talk about”— Steven Bartlett
Big reveals from this episode
- His father died by suicide, an event that first made Professor Green aware of the phrase mental health.
- Multiple elders carried trauma: his father was in care, his twin died at birth, and his uncle also took his own life two years before his dad did.
- He recounts his last conversation with his father, who threatened to knock him out, and says he does not regret his angry words.
- He was stabbed in the neck with a broken bottle outside a club after standing his ground in a minor dispute.
- He was legally pressured to testify against his attacker or be arrested, a conflict that still troubles him.
- After a 2017 hiatus hernia operation he nearly died from complications and turned to holistic gut-health approaches.
- He admits he believed becoming a successful musician would absolve his past and make him happy, and found it was bullshit.
Worth remembering
- His mother was 16 and his father 18 when he was born; they separated quickly.
- He was born with pyloric stenosis and had an operation at six weeks old, later diagnosed with IBS, linking gut and brain.
- He went from being offered a grammar-school exam at 11 to a pupil referral unit by 13, mainly due to attendance.
- Professor Green did not sell his first record until age 28, after about ten years of pursuing music.
- Bartlett spent six months working at a London psychedelics mental-health company.
- Professor Green was hit and squashed between two cars in 2013, which he found more traumatic than being stabbed.
- He made it as a white male in the UK hip-hop scene, which he and Bartlett note was a rare accomplishment.
- He lost over a million pounds in endorsements after a 2013 arrest for something he was never charged with.