David Byrne Opens Up About Possibly Being on the Autism Spectrum

David Byrne might be on the autism spectrum.

The Talking Heads icon appeared on the Tuesday, Nov. 4 episode of The Louis Theroux Podcast and spoke about possibly being on the spectrum as well as how music has helped him navigate social scenarios.

Byrne, 73, recalled first thinking about the idea. “That might have been in the ‘90s or something, there were articles in magazines and things like that about this idea of spectrum,” he said.

“There’s fairly severe autism where people don’t talk at all and it’s very, very difficult for them to communicate. And then there’s milder and milder, and until it’s on the very mild side,” added the artist. “It tends to be people who can be very focused on an idea, maybe have difficulty in social situations and things like that.”

Byrne recalled of the time, “I said, ‘Oh, yeah, I’ve recognized that.’ I’ve never thought of it as a disability, but I can see that there’s a part of me that is like that.”

The Mayo Clinic defines autism spectrum disorder as “condition related to brain development that affects how people see others and socialize with them,” which “causes problems in communication and getting along with others socially.”

Byrne also spoke to Theroux, 55, about the challenges he’s faced as someone potentially on the spectrum, a topic explored on the song “She Explains Things to Me” from his latest album, Who Is the Sky?

“I’ve had the experience where someone will say, ‘Well, I clearly said no,’ and then I’ll replay the conversation and the word ‘no’ was not there, but they expected their facial expression or the nuances of what they were saying to be read and clearly interpreted as a ‘no,'” said Byrne. “This isn’t me trying to do something inappropriate. I wasn’t able to read that.”

Today, the “Burning Down the House” musician feels he’s become “a lot better at that now than I was in the past.”

“I’m a lot more comfortable with people now than I was in the past. So it changes,” he said. “I’ll give music credit for that, too.”

Byrne further explained, “Making music, working with other people on music, playing together with musicians on stage, it becomes this very ecstatic, transcendent kind of social thing. And I thought, ‘Okay, over the years, time passes and you kind of change after a bit.'”