Harry Styles has spoken about the benefits of receiving therapy for his mental health after initially being hesitant to engage with it.

The pop star said in a new interview that speaking to a professional had allowed him to “open up rooms” in himself that he was unaware existed.

He said that he started therapy reluctantly about five years ago. “I thought it meant that you were broken,” he told Better Homes & Gardens, adding that he felt it was a music industry cliche to seek help. “I wanted to be the one who could say I didn’t need it.”

But therapy trained him out of his tendency to “emotionally coast”.

“I think that accepting living, being happy, hurting in the extremes, that is the most alive you can be. Losing it crying, losing it laughing – there’s no way, I don’t think, to feel more alive than that,” he said.

Elsewhere in the interview Styles said that over the course of the COVID pandemic he finally reflected properly on the split of his former band, One Direction, in 2016.

“In lockdown, I started processing a lot of stuff that happened when I was in the band,” he said, adding that he “felt free” when he could move on from the group to pursue his solo career and remembering how he burst into tears when he signed his new record deal.

In other news, the singer announced recently a North American headline tour for this year. Ticket details are yet to be confirmed – you’ll be able to find them here when they go live.

The pop star, whose third album ‘Harry’s House’ arrives on May 20, will return to New York to perform 10 nights at Madison Square Garden between August 28 and September 21 in continuation of his global ‘Love On Tour’.

He’ll then head over to Los Angeles to play 10 shows at the city’s Kia Forum between October 31 and November 15.

Styles is also scheduled to play five concerts in both Austin (September 25 to October 2) and Chicago (October 6-14) after kicking off the stint with two nights at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena (August 15, 16).

Support will come from Blood Orange (New York), Ben Harper (LA), Madi Diaz (Toronto), Gabriels (Austin) and Jessie Ware (Chicago).