Willow Smith has discussed her experiences of having anxiety attacks on stage in a new conversation with Yungblud.

Speaking on The YUNGBLUD Podcast (per HotNewHipHop), Smith said: “I felt extremely unsafe in my music career in the past and that feeling of insecurity or unsafety like I didn’t feel protected, which went really deep.”

Explaining that many of her painful memories from early live appearances had “just been resurfacing,” the singer pinpointed a performance on The Jimmy Fallon Show as a particularly triggering moment.

“I had like a flashback of being like 10 or nine and having like an anxiety attack on set and basically feeling like everyone around me was like ‘You’re just a brat. Why aren’t you grateful?’” she said.

“They didn’t see it as an anxiety attack, they saw it as a tantrum. Now, I look back and know it was an anxiety attack. [I] tell myself that, ‘You’re not nine, you’re a grown-ass woman.’ I have to retrain my mind.

“My mental health is in a very fragile state, but I think it’s in a state where it’s about to grow in a really awesome way.”

Earlier this month (July 18), WILLOW – as she is known artistically – had her head shaved on stage during a performance of ‘Whip My Hair’.

In a four-star review of WILLOW’s new album, NME wrote: “With ‘lately I feel EVERYTHING’, the child star-turned-music-innovator sends a fond farewell to adolescence. It was a risky move, switching from conscious R&B star to grungy punk beau, but WILLOW has knocked all doubts out of the park – again.”

For help and advice on mental health:

• ‘Am I depressed?‘ – Help and advice on mental health and what to do next
• Help Musicians UK – Around the clock mental health support and advice for musicians
• Music Support Org – Help and support for musicians struggling with alcoholism, addiction, or mental health issues
• YOUNG MINDS – The voice for young people’s health and wellbeing
• CALM – The Campaign Against Living Miserably for young men
• Time To Change – Let’s end mental health discrimination
• The Samaritans – Confidential support 24 hours a day