Pop star Lizzo has said her anxiety "fuels” her exuberant live performances.
The American singer and rapper, known for hits Truth Hurts and Juice, is famed for her energetic performing style.
She told British Vogue: “When I get really, really anxious before a show, I just go harder and harder and harder when I’m performing and I just go crazy.
“I don’t know why, but my anxiety sometimes fuels who I am as a performer and who I am as an artist – and I know that is not the case for everyone.
“I don’t know if my body just, like, out of a desperate need to find a place for my anxiety or find a use for it, takes it and puts it there.”
The 31-year-old music star added: “I think if I was 21 right now, I would not be able to maintain this lifestyle without having major anxiety and panic attacks.
“But thank God, my journey is all about self-care and finding that love for yourself and nurturing yourself. Because that’s what artists need more than anything.”
Detroit-born Lizzo, whose real name is Melissa Jefferson, has enjoyed a stellar year following the April release of her third studio album, Cuz I Love You, and she performed at Glastonbury Festival this summer.
She is also an actress and appeared in the drama Hustlers alongside Constance Wu and Jennifer Lopez, and she is a prominent body positivity activist on social media.
Talking about the lack of body representation in the media, Lizzo told the magazine: “I would watch things on television and I would look at magazines and I would not see myself.
“When you don’t see yourself, you start to think something’s wrong with you.
“Then you want to look like those things and when you realise it’s a physical impossibility, you start to think, ‘What the f*** is wrong with me?’ I think that took a greater toll on me, psychologically, growing up than what anyone could have said to me.”
See the full feature in the December issue of British Vogue, available now.
With additional reporting by Press Association.
