"I'm an ugly-ass motherf**ker... My face tattoos maybe come from a place of insecurity, to where I don't like how I look, so I'm going to put something cool on there so I can look at myself and say, 'You look cool kid,' and have a modicum of self-confidence."
Behind the face tattoos, the Bud Light sponsorships, and the laid-back demeanor that made him one of music's biggest stars lies someone you might not expect: a guy who cried himself to sleep throughout middle school and high school, still fighting the same internal battles today.
Post Malone, born Austin Richard Post, is that rare artist who can headline a hip-hop festival one year and a country stadium tour the next. Critics have called him a "culture vulture." Fans call him "one of the best human beings on the planet." But what explains someone who seems so effortlessly chill while carrying so much inner turmoil?
The answer lies in understanding the Enneagram Type 9 personality. And how Posty embodies both its gifts and its shadows.
TL;DR: Why Post Malone is an Enneagram Type 9
- Conflict Avoidance: Post's entire career is built on bridging divides, hip-hop, rock, country, never fully committing to one tribe or starting fights with critics. When accused of cultural appropriation, he responds with calm clarification rather than escalation.
- Self-Numbing Patterns: His past heavy drinking, struggles with self-esteem, and tendency to downplay his own accomplishments reflect the Type 9's habit of merging with external comforts to avoid confronting internal pain.
- Peaceful Presence: Everyone who meets him, from TikTok creators to fellow musicians, describes him as "the nicest person in the industry." This universal likability is a hallmark of healthy Type 9s.
- Hidden Depth: The face tattoos covering what he calls his "ugly" face, the decades of crying himself to sleep, the difficulty seeking help for mental health: these reveal the Type 9 shadow: suppressing their own needs while appearing unbothered.
- Genre Fluidity: Type 9s naturally see all perspectives and refuse to choose sides. Post's ability to collaborate with everyone from Ozzy Osbourne to Dolly Parton reflects the Nine's gift for harmonizing opposites.
What is Post Malone's Personality Type?
Post Malone is an Enneagram Type 9
Enneagram Type 9s are called "The Peacemakers" because no type is more devoted to creating internal and external harmony. They're accepting, trusting, and stable, often creative and supportive, but can also be too willing to go along with others to keep the peace.
Post Malone's entire public persona screams Type 9. The chill vibe. The genuine warmth toward everyone he meets. The complete absence of celebrity ego. But like all Nines, there's a shadow side: the suppression of his own needs, the numbing behaviors, and a deep insecurity that he covers with tattoos rather than confronts directly.
The Nine's Core Fear and Desire:
- Fear: Loss of connection, fragmentation, separation from others
- Desire: Internal and external peace, wholeness, harmony
Watch any interview with Post Malone and you'll see these dynamics playing out. He agrees with interviewers almost reflexively. He deflects compliments. He seems genuinely surprised that anyone would want to talk to him. This isn't false modesty. It's the Nine's tendency to minimize their own presence in the world.
The Syracuse Kid Who Moved to Texas
Austin Richard Post was born July 4, 1995, in Syracuse, New York. His parents separated during childhood, and Austin was raised primarily by his father Rich and stepmother Jodie.
His father worked as a wedding DJ in central New York, exposing young Austin to an eclectic mix of music, AC/DC, Mötley Crüe, Twisted Sister, Guns N' Roses. This early immersion in diverse genres would later define his career.
When Austin was nine, his father became the manager of concessions for the Dallas Cowboys, and the family relocated to Grapevine, Texas, a modestly affluent suburb near Dallas. His mother didn't come to Texas.
The Guitar Hero Moment
At age nine, Austin discovered the video game Guitar Hero. Something clicked. The game ignited an obsession with music that led him to teach himself actual guitar through YouTube videos.
By eighth grade, he had won a talent show performing a metalcore cover of Rihanna's "Umbrella", a genre-bending choice that foreshadowed his entire career. At 16, he released his first mixtape using the free audio editor Audacity. His classmates at Grapevine High School voted him "Most Likely to Become Famous."
The name "Post Malone" came from a rap name generator when Austin was 14 or 15. "Post" was his last name; "Malone" was random.
The Chicken Express Years
Before the platinum records, Austin worked at Chicken Express as a teenager. He briefly attended Tarrant County College after graduating high school in 2013 but dropped out after six months because he "wasn't feeling the vibe."
This decision, leaving the safe, expected path to pursue music in Los Angeles with his friend Jason Probst, a professional game streamer, reflects both the Nine's tendency to drift along with circumstances and their occasional bursts of following an inner calling that supersedes external expectations.
The Rise of Posty
In 2015, Post Malone dropped "White Iverson" on SoundCloud. Within a month, it had a million plays. The song's laid-back flow, genre-blurring production, and hook-heavy construction became his signature.
But with success came criticism. Almost immediately, the "culture vulture" accusations began.
The Controversy That Revealed His Nine-ness
In 2017, Post made comments during what he described as "a beer-tasting interview" that ignited a firestorm. He said: "If you're looking for lyrics, if you're looking to cry, if you're looking to think about life, don't listen to hip-hop."
Critics pounced. Complex ran a piece titled "Here's Why Post Malone Is a Problem." The accusations of cultural appropriation intensified.
A healthier response might have been to firmly defend himself or engage with the criticism directly. Instead, Post's response was pure Type 9: he apologized, clarified, avoided conflict, and emphasized his love for all music.
"I just want to be a person that makes music," he told GQ. "I make music that I like, and I think that kicks ass."
This pattern, absorbing criticism without fully engaging with it, maintaining harmony by refusing to fight back, has defined his public persona ever since. When asked about the "culture vulture" label in a 2024 CBS interview, he said such claims "hurt" him because he genuinely loves music. Not anger. Not defensiveness. Just hurt and a desire to be understood.
The Face Tattoos: Armor for the Insecure
Post Malone has admitted that his extensive face tattoos, playing cards, a bloody buzzsaw, a knife, a gauntlet, the words "stay away," "always tired," and barbed wire, come from deep insecurity.
"I'm an ugly-ass motherf**ker," he told GQ. The tattoos give him "a modicum of self-confidence."
This is perhaps the most revealing window into Post's psychology. Type 9s often struggle to feel they have a right to take up space in the world. They minimize themselves, merge with their environment, avoid drawing attention to their own needs.
Post's tattoos are paradoxical: they make him stand out while serving as a mask to hide behind. They're a way of controlling his appearance rather than confronting why he feels ugly. They're external armor for internal wounds.
The Mental Health Struggles
In that same GQ interview, Post revealed he had struggled with mental health since childhood:
"Middle school, I would cry myself to sleep every fkin' day. High school, the same thing. I tried to drink some beers to get rid of that st, but it just never goes away."
He connected his journey to his friends who died from drug-related causes, Mac Miller, Lil Peep, Juice WRLD, saying, "That could have been me."
When asked if he's getting help, his response was classic Nine: "I am, now, I'm trying. It's difficult. Through my songs, I can talk about whatever I want. But sitting here, face-to-face, it's difficult."
Type 9s often struggle to voice their needs directly. They can express themselves through creative outlets while finding face-to-face emotional confrontation almost impossible.
The Records and the Redemption
Post Malone's commercial success is staggering:
- Nine diamond-certified songs, second only to Drake
- "Sunflower" (with Swae Lee): The highest-certified Diamond single in history at 20x platinum, the most-streamed hip-hop song on Spotify
- beerbongs & bentleys: Broke Spotify's first-day streaming record with 78.7 million streams; set the record for most simultaneous Top 40 Hot 100 hits with 14
- "Circles": Set the record for longest climb to #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart by a solo artist (41 weeks)
- Hollywood's Bleeding: Double platinum, nominated for Grammy Album of the Year
- Over 150 million records sold in the US alone
He holds eleven Billboard Music Awards, five American Music Awards, and six MTV Video Music Awards. He's been nominated for 18 Grammys.
He's never won one.
The Grammy Curse
At the 2025 Grammy Awards, Post Malone was nominated for eight awards, mostly for his country album F-1 Trillion and collaborations with Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, and Morgan Wallen. He won zero.
With 18 career nominations and no wins, he now holds the record for most Grammy nominations by a country artist without a win. Only sound engineer Chris Gehringer (21 nominations) has more career nods without taking home a trophy.
A Type 3 might rage at this injustice. A Type 8 might dismiss the Grammys as irrelevant. Post Malone's response? The same chill acceptance that has defined his career. He doesn't fight. He keeps making music.
The Country Pivot
In August 2024, Post Malone released F-1 Trillion, a full country album featuring collaborations with Tim McGraw, Dolly Parton, Blake Shelton, Chris Stapleton, Morgan Wallen, and others.
Critics who had called him a culture vulture in hip-hop now had to explain how this white rapper from Texas could seamlessly fit into Nashville. But for anyone who understood Post's Type 9 nature, it made perfect sense.
Type 9s are natural chameleons. Not out of deception, but because they genuinely see and appreciate all perspectives. They don't pick sides. They harmonize.
Post's father introduced him to hard rock before he discovered hip-hop through Guitar Hero. He covered Rihanna in metalcore at his talent show. He collaborated with Ozzy Osbourne. Genre boundaries have never meant much to him because his personality type doesn't recognize them.
The 2025 Tour
Post Malone kicked off "The BIG ASS Stadium Tour" in April 2025, hitting 25 stadiums across the US and Canada with Jelly Roll and Sierra Ferrell. The tour celebrates his country work while incorporating his hip-hop catalog.
The album went platinum. "I Had Some Help" with Morgan Wallen became a smash. His country credentials, once questioned, are now undeniable.
Fatherhood and Transformation
In May 2022, Post Malone's daughter was born. He proposed to her mother, Hee Sung "Jamie" Park, that same year after a drunken Vegas proposal where she initially said "Ask me tomorrow."
Fatherhood transformed him. In interviews, he described it as "the most beautiful thing" that "changes your life in the best way ever."
He credited his fiancée with saving his life, helping him navigate his struggles with alcoholism. He cut out soda, reduced his drinking, and lost approximately 55 pounds, going from 240 to around 185 pounds.
The weight loss transformation has been dramatic and public. He partnered with Kim Kardashian's Skims brand and told GQ, "It was really a lot of fun, it made me feel like a handsome son of a bitch."
The Breakup
In early 2025, it was revealed that Post and Jamie had quietly split at the end of 2024. Jamie filed for primary physical custody of their daughter in April 2025.
Post has since been linked to Christy Lee, a Parsons School of Design student from Newport Beach, California. He was spotted with her on a trip to Paris in April 2025.
The breakup, handled quietly without public drama, reflects the Nine's preference for avoiding conflict, even when the relationship that once "saved his life" comes to an end.
Understanding Post Through the Nine Lens
What makes Post Malone fascinating isn't just his success. It's the contradiction between his public persona and his private reality.
Publicly, he's the chillest guy in the room. He teaches Billie Joe Armstrong how to play beer pong. He gets Patrick Mahomes' autograph tattooed on his body after losing multiple games. He's universally described as humble, kind, and approachable.
Privately, he battled decades of crying himself to sleep. He covered his face with tattoos because he couldn't stand to look at himself. He nearly followed his friends into early graves.
This is the Nine paradox: appearing peaceful while suppressing profound internal turmoil. Being so focused on external harmony that internal pain gets buried.
Integration and Growth
When Type 9s are healthy, they move toward the positive qualities of Type 3: they become more assertive, goal-oriented, and willing to take up space in the world.
Post's transformation since becoming a father suggests significant growth. He's gotten help for his mental health. He's changed his relationship with alcohol. He's advocated publicly for addressing insecurities rather than masking them.
"I'm the happiest ever," he said recently. "Now, I'm a dad, I'm hanging out."
Disintegration Under Stress
When Type 9s are unhealthy, they move toward the negative qualities of Type 6: they become anxious, reactive, and more openly insecure.
Post's past struggles: the heavy drinking, the inability to seek help, the self-destructive patterns, reflect a Nine under extreme stress. The fact that he's addressed these openly suggests someone who has done real psychological work.
The Legacy Question
Post Malone is one of the most commercially successful artists of his generation. He's bridged hip-hop, rock, pop, and country. He's sold 150 million records and broken streaming records that may never be matched.
Yet he remains genuinely uncomfortable with his own fame. He deflects praise. He seems surprised that anyone cares. He covers his face with tattoos because he can't bear to see himself without them.
This tension, between massive success and deep insecurity, is perhaps the most Type 9 thing about him. He's achieved external harmony through music while still struggling for internal peace.
What Can We Learn?
Post Malone's journey offers insights for anyone:
Surface calm often hides internal storms. The most laid-back person in the room might be fighting the hardest battles.
Genre boundaries are artificial. Someone who genuinely loves all music can move between worlds that seem incompatible.
Transformation is possible. The guy who cried himself to sleep and drank to numb the pain is now "the happiest ever."
Vulnerability has power. Post's willingness to admit his insecurities, about his appearance, his mental health, his struggles, has only made fans love him more.
The face tattoos aren't going anywhere. But maybe they don't need to anymore. Maybe the 55-pound weight loss, the fatherhood transformation, and the mental health work have given Post something he's been searching for since middle school: a way to look at himself and genuinely believe he looks cool.
Or at least, cool enough.
What do you think drives someone to cover their face with tattoos while seeming like the most easygoing person in the room? Does Post Malone's story change how you see the "chill" people in your own life?
Disclaimer: This analysis of Post Malone's Enneagram type is speculative, based on publicly available information, and may not reflect the actual personality type of Post Malone.
What would you add?