Perrie Edwards has opened up about her mental health battle.
The singer suffers with anxiety and panic attacks, which reached a peak during her time with Little Mix. The pop star emotionally recounted an incident where she was questioned about drug use while experiencing a panic attack.
She's been vocal about her struggles over the years, even revealing moments when the intensity made her believe she was having a heart attack. Reflecting on her journey, Perrie shared that her mental health took a turn for the worse while touring.
"My anxiety started when we as a band were in Las Vegas a few years ago when something happened. I'd been having panic attacks for a while," she disclosed. "I thought I was dying, my heart hurt and I went to hospital and they were like 'what drugs have you taken' and I said 'nothing!'"
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"I told them 'something's happening to my heart I'm going to die' - and I was having a panic attack. Since that trip they just kept coming and it got so bad I had to ask my mum if she was going to put me in a mental institute."
Speaking to Fearne Cotton on the Happy Place podcast, she revealed how therapy has been a game-changer for her. "Having therapy has helped me massively. I tried so many therapists and doctors. I catastrophize normal daily life things but when I'm on stage I'm fine," reports the Mirror.
Perrie also touched upon how she shields her son Axel from her anxiety. The star, who shares her three year old son with footballer fiancé Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, opened up about her struggles: "I never want my little boy see that I am anxious. I'm scared people will see me out and about and recognise me and see me having a panic attack," she confessed.
"But I feel better now after finding the right therapist. But you have to go through the thick of it first and feel it all."
In a heartfelt conversation, Perrie also touched upon the tragic passing of One Direction's Liam Payne, who met his untimely death after falling from the third-floor balcony of the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, earlier this month. Like Liam, Perrie rose to stardom on the X Factor and dated his bandmate Zayn Malik.
She expressed her sorrow: "I think it just feels weird, it's just so sad. It's so heartbreaking, and my heart honestly hurts for his family, his friends, Cheryl (Tweedy, mother of Payne's son Bear, seven), his little boy. It's just absolutely devastating, and I can't even imagine how they must be feeling right now."
She added, "I didn't think it was real when I read it, and it's a very weird space, and I think it's in the air, everyone can feel it, it's really sad. Us girls were messaging, and I think Leigh-Anne (Pinnock, fellow Little Mix member) was like, 'it's very close to home', our careers were very aligned."
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