Cheryl has opened up on her battle with anxiety and how she felt as though she was ‘dying inside.’
The 36-year-old rose to fame in 2002 when she won a place in Girls Aloud on Popstars: The Rivals.
However, despite becoming one of the most well known girl groups in the industry, it turns out the star was suffering in silence with her own personal struggles.
The mother-of-one appeared on BBC Radio 1’s Life Hacks series, where she spoke about her mental health.
She said: ‘I would walk out to a wall of paparazzi and put on a smile but inside I was dying.
‘I think I actually walked through the fire to be honest. I struggled for so long in silence, I wouldn’t even open up to friends and family. I was very closed.’
The Fight For This Love songstress explained how she went through therapy for a year after giving birth to her son Bear, who she shares with Liam Payne.
She confessed: ‘I actually had therapy for a year. I struggled for so many years with anxiety and in my own head, thinking things…
‘I didn’t want that to be happening when I was trying to focus on raising a child.’
The popstar added: ‘It felt like my responsibilities shifted and my priorities changed and I needed to be settled in my own head to be able to give him the best that I could possibly give him.’
Cheryl has previously spoken about her anxiety when chatting to The Telegraph.
She said: ‘I would talk to myself so nastily: “You silly cow. You stupid b***h.”
‘No one could make me feel worse about myself than I did, and that was a massive problem.’
Revealing that she’d skip the chance to live her teens and twenties again, she recalled feeling ‘warmer’ when she fell pregnant.
‘I was so warm inside, and I found it amazing, I guess because I’ve lived on adrenaline and anxiety for so many years,’ the Love Made Me Do it singer said.
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