Rapper Kanye West vowed to remove himself from the limelight of fame in an exclusive interview with Jay Leno last night.West offered what appeared to be a sincere, nearly tearful explanation of the events that resulted in him interrupting an acceptance speech by singer Taylor Swift. In the unplanned interview, Leno asked West about how his mother, the late Dr. Donda West, would feel at his actions. West then revealed that he had never taken time to grieve and would eventually take time to reflect and collect himself. West said: “You know, obviously, you know, I deal with hurt. And, you know, so many celebrities, they never take the time off. I’ve never taken the time off to really — you know, just music after music and tour after tour,” he said. “I’m just ashamed that my hurt caused someone else’s hurt. My dream of what awards shows are supposed to be, ’cause — and I don’t try to justify it because I was just in the wrong. That’s period. But I need to, after this, take some time off and just analyze how I’m going to make it through the rest of this life, how I’m going to improve. Because I am a celebrity, and that’s something I have to deal with. And if there’s anything I could do to help Taylor in the future or help anyone, I’d like — you know, I want to live this thing. It’s hard sometimes…”The moment was captured on Jay Leno’s prime-time debut Monday, a debut that also saw a performance by Jay-Z, West and Rihanna.West said that he didn’t realize exactly how rude he had behaved until he gave the mic back to Swift and she didn’t continue her speech. He was showered with boos from the crowd even after he left the venue.West felt Beyonce’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” should have won for best female video award, not Swift’s “You Belong With Me.”Kanye said that he hoped to one day apologize to Swift face to face. He was not booed on the show.Below is a video of the interview in full:
