The Wanted's Max George has detailed how he struggled to get out of bed as he battled depression.
In an interview with journalist Sian Williams the singer said how at his lowest points he was "unsteady on his feet" and often hit with "dizzy spells".
Speaking on 5 News he told how for months he thought his symptoms of depression related to something that was physically wrong with him.
"I was really ill, to the point I couldn’t really get out of bed, it was pretty shocking actually," he said.
"I thought that I was seriously ill, I went for scans and all sorts and they were just saying there’s nothing there, we can’t put our finger on it what the problem is.
"Then I saw another doctor, and he said the same thing have you ever suffered from mental health issues, anxiety or depression?"
This was in 2015, five years after his first encounter with depression.
Max continued: "I said I had been through an episode before but nothing like this. And he said I think that’s what we’re looking at and then obviously he then actually said no, I know that’s what we’re looking at."
He was in America at the time of this conversation and then he began to get help on the NHS when he moved back to England.
Max spoke about depression and how it has no preference over who it affects: "It can affect anybody, it affected me in the best times of my life but I think one thing I would say is there is help there, that doesn’t cost a load of money, it’s the NHS, it’s there for free.
"I genuinely would advise people if they’re struggling, just pick the phone up because just talking about it is a massive step."
He first experienced trouble with his mental health in 2010, when his band released their first single.
"It did really well, it went to number one and then it was kind of everything I’d ever hoped for I guess and then – I don’t know – I didn’t react to it well. I didn’t feel like happy, I didn’t feel the way I thought I was going to feel and I felt really ungrateful actually at the time. I was like what is going on here? Why can’t I feel myself?"
Looking back to when he was younger, he said how he never understood how famous people suffered from depression.
He said: "I’ll be honest, when I was growing up and I would see on TV footballers depressed, or this rockstar is depressed, I’d be like man, how can they be depressed, they’re like living the dream surely.
"And then I was living my own dreams, I was achieving everything I had wanted to achieve and then you feel like that and get told that you’ve got anxiety and depression."
Ahead of his international fame with The Wanted, Max played football for Preston North End.
He hung up his football boots to focus on his music career and in 2005 he wowed X Factor judges with his performance of Bill Withers' "Lean on Me".
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After The X Factor he joined boy band Avenue in the same year, before they split in 2009.
Max joined The Wanted along with along with Siva Kaneswaran, Jay McGuiness, Tom Parker and Nathan Sykes that year and the boys found huge success with their track "All Time Low".
