Singer and streamer Talia Mar has opened up about life after receiving an autism diagnosis aged 25, as well as juggling motherhood and her busy career
Talia Mar has admitted it was “relieving” to share that she had been diagnosed with autism. The singer and social media star was diagnosed in 2021, aged 25, after years of believing she was neurodivergent.
Talia initially sought an assessment for Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) before confirming she was autistic. Since her diagnosis in July 2024, Talia explained that it’s helped her understand herself more and has helped stop her from blaming herself for finding certain issues more difficult than others.
According to the NHS, the prevalence of autism in adults remained at around one in a hundred. It’s estimated that there are around 700,000 adults and children across the UK with autism, but this is not the number of people with a diagnosis, says the National Autistic Society.
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Speaking to the Mirror about sharing her diagnosis, Talia said: “It was so relieving and so nice to be able to speak openly about it. A lot of the time, I’d briefly mentioned it, and I was met with a bit of resistance. I think because I’ve been told a million times, ‘Well, you don’t look autistic,’ not that, that even makes sense because it’s literally not physical – I don’t understand that sentence, but I’ve been told that a million times.
“Actually, coming out and talking about it properly, about the diagnosis, people were like ‘Oh, you weren’t just saying that for a fun little thing,’ again, I don’t understand why it’s a fun little thing. It was nice to be able to talk about it openly and feel people understand when I do these things, or when I say these things or when I talk about things with a certain passion that maybe other people aren’t, they understand why and where it comes from and why I get so into things and so obsessed and so tunnel vision. But it’s like, ‘Okay, that is now explained.'”
Talia went on to add that her mother has since reflected on her life growing up, when autism was rarely spoken about. “We grew up in a generation of underdiagnosis and late diagnosis, you find ways to cope – you find your own mechanisms of ‘Ok, how do I mask and pretend that this makes me feel ok?'”
The singer, known for hits including Self-Portrait and Stay the Night, went on to add that growing up, as somebody who disliked human touch, she would tell people she was a “hugger” to get the awkward stage out of the way. Today, Talia releases her latest single, Suit and Tie, and while she’s been in the industry for a decade, she admits she still gets nervous on release day for deeply personal tracks. “It feels a little bit new and a. little bit daunting,” she said, adding: “Equally, I think now that I don’t have a label, I don’t have management. I think I finally just want to release music that is truly what I want to talk about, what I want to say and how I want to say it, so it’s scary, but it’s refreshing.”
And while the lyrics imply the track is about a romantic relationship and heartache, that wasn’t the case for Talia. “I feel everyone has experienced those relationships,” she explained, adding: “Whether it’s family, friends, you know, work, there’s always that one person in your life who has those sort of like almost narcissistic tendencies that kind of make you feel small and like, oh, I can’t leave.
“And then when you finally do, you’re like ‘Hang on a minute’, and you suddenly see everything for what it is.” For the music video, Talia has edited and directed it herself, along with a close friend whom she was able to “trust to not run away” with the ideas. “I was so involved on the day, getting the footage back, I knew what I was expecting,” she said, before explaining that a “bad take” can fall into place and produce a stronger edit. And this year, Talia is hoping to get back into live performing in the next couple of months. “That might be a bit ambitious,” she laughed, adding: “Hopefully we’ll have some live shows this year, some new music and maybe a bigger project that’s not just singles, hopefully towards the end of the year, potentially an album.”
Since 2023, Talia has worked independently, having walked away from her label, RCA Records and Sony Music Entertainment. She said of her newfound creative freedom: “I think even with management and sort of like coming out of school and going straight into sort of working with people. It’s been so long since I’ve 100 per cent thought for myself, it’s also a little bit of pressure because if something goes wrong, it’s my decision. But it’s really nice to think, ‘Hang on a minute, what do I want to do? How do I want to do it? And let’s actually execute this plan in my head.'”
Talia believes that working independently gives fans a better understanding of the artist, as they’re not pushing out “manufactured” material; instead, it’s music from the heart, not chasing the next viral TikTok track. She explained: “I feel like social media caused the sort of manufactured music era. But then it’s also been the reason that people have now gone independent and been able to make the music that is more authentic.”
However, while juggling a music career and social media may sound hectic to many, for Talia, she admits they “fit together”. “My social media has very much been just me, what I want to do and what I like and enjoy at the time,” she said, adding: “Music has always been my main passion, so they always end up working together.” However, this is not always a conscious decision for Talia.
And while Talia is part of a group of empowering women in music on social media, she says six years after Covid, it can feel “overwhelming.” “I think it sometimes doesn’t feel like you are like it very much, sometimes feels like everyone’s so separate,” she said, adding: “I think it’s a lasting effect from Covid, everyone was so isolated, you have to relearn that we can all be in the same room and doing the same thing.”
In recent years, the music industry has seen a huge rise in diversity in artists from different genres finding mainstream success and recognition. “Things have massively diversified in music,” Talia explained, before going on to say: “With the BRITs, there are artists on that stage that you’ve not heard of before, and you listen to them. You discover artists at these massive events because they’re listening to the more niche things and the more sort of musical things, rather than just what’s number one in the charts.”
Having spent a decade in the industry, Talia admits she’s learnt that “being a control freak is ok”; however, she explained that the term “controlling” can often be used against artists, to stop them having control of their overall career. “It’s not even control at that point. It’s just having a say in my own career. So I think learning that actually that’s an okay trait to have in this industry,” she said, adding: “Sometimes it’s a good thing to have because it’s what keeps you sort of like on the track that you want to be on.”
With ever-changing social media changes and algorithms, Talia has never found her content changing to meet current trends. “Things that change – your editing style might change, or the length of your video, but that’s it,” Talia explained. In recent times, Talia has returned to vlogging, explaining they’re the “same vlogs” she was posting ten years ago.
But when Talia isn’t busy in the studio or streaming online, she’s a busy mother to her daughter, Juni Angèle Minter-Mar. The star welcomed her daughter with husband and fellow content creator, Simon Minter, known as Miniminter online. “It is a whirlwind, it is one of the most incredible things, but maybe the hardest things I’ve ever done,” she laughed, adding: “It’s a minefield, especially at this age, they go from one week not being able to do something, to nex,t week being able to do something completely differen,t and you’re like ‘Right now I need to chase after you and I need to do this,’ that is a whole thing and rather overwhelming!”
Talia admits that she didn’t want to spend too much time on maternity leave due to loving her job so much. “As much as I want to spend time with Juni, I really want to have my own career and things that I do away from her,” she said. She added: “So that when I come back, I’m not exhausted from being a parent.
“Simon and I have a good structure – when he does something, I look after Juni and vice versa. It’s been ok so far, but it will get to the point when she’s at nursery and then school, it will hopefully fall into place.” The singer admitted that both she and Simon are “very lucky” with their jobs. “It’s not the same as a 9 to 5,” she said.
Suit and Tie by Talia Mar is available to download now on all major streaming platforms.
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