Florence Welch pretends she isn't famous to "protect [her] sanity".
Florence Welch
The 'Hunger' singer feels comfortable when she's making music but the idea of being a prominent figure in the public eye is "corrosive" and "very bad" for her.
She said: "I have this happy delusion that I am not famous.
"To protect my sanity, I decided a while ago that I am not a celebrity...
"Performance, making music, always seems very safe to me.
"Being famous is corrosive and distracting and very bad for me.
"I genuinely don't know how some people deal with that every single day."
And the Florence and the Machine singer admitted she feels "terribly guilty" about the way she's changed her own life.
She told Q magazine: "I was a sensitive, dreamy kid, and when that intense hijacking by fame happens I feel terribly guilty that I didn't protect that kid enough. I slingshotted her into this world."
The 32-year-old star experienced a crippling anxiety attack recently when her "vanity" made her step into the world of the famous by attending the Met Gala.
She said: "It's not like I'm not vain. I am vain. I love clothes.
"So if a designer I love invites me to this huge fashion event to put me in an amazing outfit, I am, like, 'Yes, yes!'.
"But my vanity cracks my sanity when I get in that world...
"You'd think I'd just be used to it by now but there's something so shocking about it. My brain just goes, whoosh.
"I just think I can't measure up to what people want from me."
Following her anxiety attack, Florence spent days in tears and feels "lucky" she has such understanding fans as she stopped her first show of the US tour to let the audience know she was struggling.
She said: "I was crying on stage, which is cheesy even for me.
"But I'm so lucky with the fanbase and I think it's to do with the vulnerability of the work. It means I attract quite sensitive people.
"I found myself saying, 'I know you've come to the ;High As Hope' tour but I'm f***ed. I'm a mess.' "
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