Stanley Kubrick was one of that kind of people who cannot take criticism of anything they do.
If you’re the one organising 30 to 50 people on a set with a good many of them also being egos (think actors for example), you have to make hard decisions and to certain extent be that unpopular leader.
On the other hand, there also plenty of soft spoken directors that use soft power to manage a set.
Just want to point out that directing isn’t an easy job at times and how that gets handled various from director to director.
Apart that he was a film maker, I don’t know anything about him. If anything, this thread thrown more claims on the person than I have ever read before, as I couldn’t care less about topics that can perfectly fit gossip magazines.
Plus not being a doctor, I’m not even qualified to make a compelling diagnosis.
All that said, clichés don’t come from anywhere, and tyrannic personalities who destroy everybody around them as sure as they get social glorification for practicing some art is a well established one, so I wouldn’t be surprised that it would be the case. However I would rather have Picasso coming to my mind.