Podcast Summary: "PROFESSOR GREEN: Diagnosed With Autism Age 40 & Why Working Class Men Are Lost"

Podcast: Great Company with Jamie Laing
Host: Jamie Laing (Jampot Productions)
Guest: Stephen Manderson (Professor Green)
Date: October 14, 2025

Episode Overview

In this deeply honest and revelatory conversation, Jamie Laing sits down with Stephen Manderson—better known as Professor Green—for a heartfelt discussion about mental health, grief, masculinity, social mobility, and late autism diagnosis. Professor Green candidly unpacks the formative experiences behind his music and activism, discusses his struggles with loss and self-acceptance, and reflects on the working class male experience in the UK.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Personal Background and Upbringing

• Professor Green's Early Life: Raised primarily by his grandmother and great-grandmother in Hackney after his mother had him at 16 and couldn't look after him; his father was largely absent.
• Nature vs. Nurture: Stephen reflects on how both genetics and environment (e.g., poverty, family instability) shaped his worldview and mental health.

  "Environmental impact can't be discredited or discounted. But knocking the 40 aspects you take on of your personality by way of your parents... It's definitely both." (60:42)

2. Struggles with Mental Health and Grief

• Father’s Suicide and Ongoing Grief: Stephen's father and two uncles took their own lives—a recurring trauma that reshaped his approach to life and relationships.
  • Grief is described as “changing shape” but never disappearing.
  • The absence of his father at key life events (wedding, birth of his son) is keenly felt.
• Grieving while Parenting: The birth of his son reignited grief, but fatherhood became a catalyst for growth.

  "It was the absence that was difficult... and that he couldn't be there to help or to aid... I would love for him to meet Mike, you know, and he'd be a young grandfather." (32:12)

• Confronting Finality and Unanswerable Questions:

  Jamie: "If your dad was here, what's the one question you would ask him?"
  Stephen: "What was it that hurt so much?" (33:23)

3. Class, Masculinity and Social Disconnection

• Experience of Social Mobility and Media Scrutiny:
  • Talks about public perceptions of his marriage to Millie Mackintosh ("East End Drug Dealer marries Quality Street heiress" [12:02]), and how class stereotypes played into press narratives and relationship hardship.
• Working Class Men Feeling Lost:
  • Cites Richard Reeves' "Boys and Men" on how social and economic forces are leaving many working class men without purpose or connection.

  "There's such a distinct lack of connection with self. [...] You know, especially the working class man, who has gone through detachment from self, detachment from family..." (35:27)

• Socioeconomic Roots of Knife Crime:
  • Relates lived experience (being stabbed) and argues that poverty, not just weapon access, fuels violence.

  "The problem we're dealing with is poverty. [...] If you improve someone's opportunity, you improve outcomes." (20:27)

4. Diagnosis: Autism at 40 and ADHD

• Late Diagnosis Journey:
  • Explains the relief and insight that an autism diagnosis at 40 brought, after a lifetime of masking and misunderstanding his own needs.
  • Childhood experiences (bed-wetting, social withdrawal, counting words as a tic) made sense retrospectively.

  "I was 40, 41 when I was properly assessed. [...] Diagnosis didn't make everything okay, but it gave me such an understanding and prompted a level of intrinsic focus." (54:53)

• Society’s Attitude to Neurodivergence:
  • Notes the relative “coolness” attributed to ADHD versus the stigma and challenges of autism.

  "There's so much that you see around ADHD being a superpower... but what about the rumination that I've suffered my entire life?" (56:25)

• Medication and Cognitive Patterns:
  • Describes the first time he took methylphenidate (Ritalin) and noticed relief from lifelong cycles of rumination.

  "For the first time ever, I'm not stuck in this cycle of, you know, a thought that enters and then won't leave." (57:34)

5. Parenthood and Breaking Cycles

• Fatherhood as a Catalyst for Change:
  • Parenting helps him learn about himself, forcing him to address old patterns and strive for emotional regulation and presence.

  "It was the most significant kick up the backside I really, I've ever had." (31:33)

• Teaching Emotional Regulation:
  • Aspires to raise his son with contentment and emotional regulation rather than the brittle pursuit of constant happiness:

  "Happiness is great. Content is way better... emotionally regulated, as far as their abilities allow is, is probably more important." (31:29)

6. Men’s Mental Health, Patriarchy, and Resilience

• Male Suicide in the UK:
  • Discusses high suicide rates among men, especially in the working class, and the isolating effects of patriarchy for men.
  • Stresses the need to recognize varied masculinities and purpose beyond narrow social roles.

  "The most likely thing to kill you is yourself, which is crazy." (64:11)

• Advice for Growth and Recovery:
  • Recommends focusing on inward change ("try, fail, try again") and shifting from “why me?” to “how do I improve?”

  "Try, fail, try again. Do something different. Actively force yourself to do something different." (26:07 & 62:53)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Relative Experience of Suffering:

  "You shouldn't diminish what you feel because ... someone has it worse than you. It's all relative." – Professor Green (08:41)

• On the Burden of Public Scrutiny and Privilege:

  "Having to do all these things which I felt like I should have been grateful for, but not feeling very comfortable doing them." – Professor Green (51:17)

• On Class Mobility and Relationships:

  "We didn't get married for the wrong reasons. You know, we loved each other. It was intoxicating. It was probably... trauma bonding." – Professor Green (15:28)

• On the Need for Opportunity:

  "If you improve someone's opportunity, you improve outcomes... From a human point of view, you improve the quality of someone's life and we only have one..." (20:33)

• On the Social Divide:

  "There's so much division which is encouraged and relied upon that stops any significant change from ever happening." (22:55)

• Jamie’s Reflection on Growth:

  "We spend so much of our time looking towards success... but we actually don't really look inward and try and build ourselves up.” (79:28)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Mental Health & Anxiety: Suffering Without Cause – 08:41
• On Class, the Media & Marriage to Millie Mackintosh – 12:02
• Poverty and Knife Crime – Solutions Beyond Legislation – 20:27
• Working Class Men & Disconnection – 21:46
• Fatherhood, Grief, and Growth – 29:33, 32:12
• Suicide, Isolation, and Male Mental Health – 35:27, 64:11
• Late Autism & ADHD Diagnosis – 43:52, 54:51
• Therapy & the Limits of Understanding – 44:21
• Rumination & Medication Impact – 57:34
• Battling, Creativity & Visual Thinking – 64:11
• Parenting as Growth – 31:33, 31:44
• Advice on Resilience & Self-Development – 26:07, 62:53
• Fun, Closing Questions (Salt & Vinegar Crisps, Guilty Pleasures, Favorite Lyrics) – 71:08, 72:00, 75:04

Standout Moments: Laughter & Humanity

• Professor Green’s Son and Innocence:

  “The other day he was... having his morning poo…‘Daddy, are you folding? Folding like a butterfly's wings...’ Then, ‘Can you wipe my bum?’” (70:31)

• Autism & The Relief of Diagnosis:

  "I don't feel uncomfortable about these things anymore. But there was a lot of. I felt uncomfortable for a huge part of my life... Not just, you know, those are things that you don't need to bring into conversation, but I felt really uncomfortable..." – (54:51)

• Visual Thinking and Battling:

  "I thought I just had wrap hands…What I discovered through the autism assessment was I'm a visual thinker...I didn't know how significant it was to my way of thinking." (66:25)

Key Takeaways for Listeners

• The importance of understanding your own story—mental health struggles, neurodivergence, and class background are deeply intertwined.
• Fatherhood and self-acceptance can fuel healing, but also reawaken old griefs.
• Masculinity and social roles: Working class men especially are caught in shifting societal expectations without social support, leaving many lost.
• Diagnosis at any age can be life-changing and help reframe decades of shame, confusion, or discomfort.
• Building resilience is not about dismissing pain, but about shifting from “why me?” to “how do I move forward?”

Finale: Guest Reflections & Closing

Stephen’s candid humor and introspective honesty fill the episode, leaving listeners with a sense of hope and realism:

"Try, fail, try again. Do something different. Actively force yourself to do something different..." (26:07)

Jamie closes by highlighting the journey toward self-improvement and encourages everyone to focus energy on their own personal growth.

For More:
Jamie will include links to Professor Green’s documentaries, music, and upcoming collaborative tracks (e.g., with Ren), all recommended listening for fans and those interested in mental health advocacy.

This summary provides a detailed look at the main themes, wisdom, and emotional tone of the episode for those who wish to engage with its content, even if they've never listened before.