Ellie Goulding opens up about her anxiety, says last year was “the hardest of my life”
Ellie Goulding has shared a lengthy post on social media, detailing her experiences with crippling anxiety over the past year.
Goulding started the New Year’s Eve post on Instagram by calling 2021 “the very best (year) of my life” before going on to list her personal and professional achievements.
“I’ve had time to sit down with great musicians and writers and made exciting new music that I hope will give people who hear it the same euphoric escape that I experienced when writing it. I have released my first book, performed to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the President and Joni Mitchell (and I can’t explain how grateful I am for that privilege),” she wrote.
“I became a mother, the greatest joy I’ve known. I have a dog and a cat that love me, I have my friends that really love me, and I have a husband that adores and supports me every single day,” she continued before admitting that “this year has also been the hardest of my life. I’ve struggled daily, nightly, hourly with a kind of panic I didn’t even know existed.”
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Goulding then went on to say that her anxiety “has dictated quite a lot of my life and my career” but also “made me who I am. Sometimes at my most terrified, when I feel there is no escape from the sheer panic and dread in my heart and brain, I remind myself that I can feel.”
Speaking about her decision to open about her mental health, Goulding said: “I feel like something is broken inside. This is something so so many people have gone through, you may be going through right now, or might go through in the future – and I just wanted to say, and I have to remind myself all the time, that it’s not just you, it’s not just me. Crippled by anxiety.”
“I know so many of you reading this feel this same pain and at the same time so many of you won’t have experienced it, but will most likely know someone who has struggled,” she added.
“For those that are in this right now, we’re together and we can get through this – most importantly, by talking. Talking and opening up is the hardest, and the best thing you can do.”
Goulding finished the statement by saying she has “so much love and energy for anyone going through this. Let’s get through this together.”
In December, Goulding took part in a celebration of Joni Mitchell at the 2021 Kennedy Center Honors, where the iconic singer-songwriter received a lifetime achievement award.
Performing alongside the likes of Norah Jones and Brittany Howard, Goulding covered Mitchell’s 1970 hit ‘Big Yellow Taxi’.