Sia reveals autism diagnosis, two years after film backlash

BBC

Two years after apologising for her depiction of autism in the film Music, Sia has revealed that she has been diagnosed with the condition herself.

Speaking to Rob Has A Podcast, which discusses the US reality show Survivor, the star said her diagnosis had brought a sense of relief.

“I’ve felt like for 45 years, I was like, ‘I’ve got to go put my human suit on’,” she said.

“And only in the last two years have I become fully myself.”

Sia, whose full name is Sia Furler, is best known as a singer-songwriter, with hits including Chandelier, Titanium and Cheap Thrills.

But in 2021, she branched out into film-making with Music, a musical drama about a woman who becomes the sole carer for her half-sister, a teenager with non-verbal autism.

She was widely criticised for casting the neuro-typical actress Maddie Ziegler – who had appeared in several of her music videos – in the main role.

There was also anger over a scene in which Ziegler’s character was seen being held in a controversial, face-down prone restraint during an episode of overstimulation.

The restraint can pose a risk of physical harm and, in some extreme cases, death by suffocation.

At the time, Sia defended the film, saying it was “completely” based on the experiences of a “neuro-atypical friend”.

However, after the film was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards in 2021, the singer issued a series of apologies on Twitter before deleting her account altogether.

“I plan to remove the restraint scenes from all future printings. I listened to the wrong people and that is my responsibility, my research was clearly not thorough enough, not wide enough,” she stated at the time.

She also promised that a warning card would be added to the film, saying that it “in no way condones or recommends the use of…