Singer and actor Peter Andre has suffered from “debilitating” anxiety for years, and the star has admitted it can drive him “mad” when his brain is “always going at a thousand miles an hour.
Peter Andre has suffered from “debilitating” anxiety for years.
The 52-year-old singer has praised TV presenter Declan Donnelly for recently speaking out about suffering from “constant anxiety”, because Peter shares a similar experience.
He wrote in his new! magazine column: “Declan Donnelly recently spoke of his secret mental health struggle, saying he has constant anxiety, but always feels there is something he should be doing work-wise when he could just be relaxing.
“I totally understand what he’s going through.
“I’m exactly the same – I can’t just rest, my brain’s always going at a thousand miles an hour, thinking of the next thing.”
Peter believes that could be partly down to the pair’s success, but it also drives him “mad”.
He added: “I think that’s part of what can contribute to success, but also drive you mad.
“The anxiety I’ve suffered with for years can be quite debilitating.
“But it’s great that Dec has spoken out about it – he’s definitely not alone.”
Asked recently about his mental health, Declan said on Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place podcast: “I struggle a bit with, it’s kind of a low level, constant anxiety about ‘should be doing this’ or ‘I’ve got to be doing…
“I never feel I can sit down and just watch telly, I always feel like I should be doing something else.
“There’s that anxiety that there’s a job that needs to be done somewhere and I should be doing it.
“I struggle with that a lot, with trying to calm that voice in the back of your head that’s going, ‘no, you should be using this time more productively’.
“I went through a period of having therapy about five, five or six years ago. I really got a lot out of it. I really enjoyed it.”
Peter has previously opened up about suffering from panic attacks, after shooting to fame in the 1990s.
Speaking in 2019 to The Guardian newspaper about suffering from anxiety attacks in the late 90s, he said: “I couldn’t breathe. I ended up in hospital, and the panic attacks would come one after another.
“Years later, after therapy, I realised it all stemmed from that fear of being killed.
“I know it sounds dramatic.”
Peter Andre has suffered ‘debilitating’ anxiety for years
