Reading Rainbow host Mychal Threets is overwhelmingly grateful for the support of his parents amid his mental health battle and recent hospitalization.
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“Not everyone has a mom and dad who help them seek help. I do!” Threets, 36, wrote via Threads on Saturday, August 28, alongside a selfie with his parents. “Not everyone has a mom and dad who call them every day when they are on a Grippy sock vacation. I do!”
He continued, “Not everyone has a mom and dad who let them stay at their home after leaving the psychiatric hospital because they don’t feel safe all alone at night. I do!”
Threets, the TikTok-famous librarian who succeeded LeVar Burton as the host of Reading Rainbow for the beloved show’s 2025 revival, checked into an in-patient treatment facility earlier this month. The influencer, who has long been candid about his anxiety struggles, wrote via social media at the time that he was “not OK” and planned to seek assistance at a local hospital.
Threets later shared via social media on August 22 that he was recently discharged after a five-day “psychiatric hold.” The next week, he confirmed that he had been diagnosed with OCD and bipolar disorder.
“Not everyone has a mom and dad who are open to talking about neurodivergence, who are open to learning about their neurodivergent child. I do!” he added on Saturday. “Thank you, Mom and Dad. I love you ✨💚.”
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Hours earlier, Threets confirmed his neurodivergent diagnoses.
“I was diagnosed with being autistic, as having ADHD on April 11, 2026, [and] I’m proud to be autistic, I’m proud to have ADHD [and] I’m proud to be neurodivergent,” he said in a Friday, August 28, social media video. “But, it’s not easy. There’s a lot of emotions, there’s a lot of feelings. I wish I would have known this when I was a library kid. I wish I would have known this sooner.”
Threets further acknowledged that this year has been “really hard” for him, especially being told he’s “very likely” bipolar.
“All these things have resulted in so much stress and so many awful, dark [and] very hard thoughts with really, really hard days,” he recalled. “[There’s] been so much confusion, and it’s just been really, really hard to be a human being, to be a person finding joy, a person seeking out hope.”
Even so, Threets promised that he’s “never gonna stop” searching for joy.
“As long as I’m alive in the world, I’m going to seek hope [and] I’m gonna see joy no matter the grief, no matter the sorrow, the sadness, the despair, the depression,” he stated. “Joy and hope are there amongst all those emotions and feelings. … I felt alone, and I don’t want you to feel alone.”
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.
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This story was originally published August 30, 2026 at 12:40 PM.