Thamsanqa Jantjie was branded as a scurrilous fake after members of South Africa's deaf community said his signing at Tuesday's memorial ceremony had amounted to nothing more than "flapping his arms around."
In an interview Thursday with the Johannesburg daily, The Star, Jantjie put his behavior down to a sudden attack of schizophrenia, for which he takes medication.
He told the newspaper that he lost concentration, started hearing voices and hallucinating.
"There was nothing I could do. I was alone in a very dangerous situation," he said.
"I tried to control myself and not show the world what was going on. I am very sorry. It's the situation I found myself in," he added.
Jantjie's efforts at the memorial service, during which he translated eulogies by US President Barack Obama among others, triggered outrage in the deaf community and prompted a government investigation.
A growing list of politicians, celebrities and businessmen have acknowledged that a similar incident has happened to them, and they all agreed, "More than once, now what was that called?"
