Tom Odell has opened up about suffering from a "very severe" panic attack last year.
Speaking to Fearne Cotton on her Happy Place podcast, the singer recalled feeling strange in the aftermath of a difficult breakup.
“I went through a very painful breakup with someone who I loved very much, still love very much,” Odell said, adding that work had also been piling up around the same time.
“I'd been feeling strange for a month,” he continued. “I couldn't define what I felt and then one day I completely collapsed in the shower in Munich.”
Odell remembered struggling to breath, describing it as a “very very severe panic attack”.
“I ended up in an ambulance and a hospital and it was absolutely terrifying,” the “Magnetised” singer continued.
“Since then I’ve been dealing with it and I’m a lot better now.”
The 29-year-old explained that he'd never had a panic attack before and didn't know what one was.
“I thought a panic attack was pacing up and down going, 'Am I gonna get fired?',” he said.
Odell added that he didn't think the panic attack was triggered by a single thing. “I know a single came out that morning, which could be something to do with it because I'd worked very hard on this song and I was worried about how it was going to be received. But it wasn't that specifically.
Earlier on in the episode, Odell spoke about his struggles with anxiety, which he said he's suffered from since he was a teenager.
“I wasn't aware it had a name until it all exploded last year,” he continued. “I just thought that was me, like I was slightly manic and I thought that was what it was like to be alive.”
Odell explained that he wanted to discuss his mental health issues publicly to combat some of the shame that people attach to anxiety and panic attacks.
“I think there is an individual issue there with men,” he said, explaining that there's “this deep shame of not talking about [mental health] because they don’t want to be seen to be wusses”.
If you have been affected by any issues mentioned in this article, you can contact The Samaritans for free on 116 123 or any of the following mental health organisations:
