Florence Welch is thinking about taking a break from touring for the sake of her mental health.
Florence Welch
The Florence + the Machine singer struggles with crippling anxiety when she is on the road, a mental health problem that she used to self-medicate with alcohol.
Florence has been sober for five years and so has had to develop with new coping mechanisms but as her "mental health has taken a battering" she isn't sure it's a price worth paying to sing to her fans.
In an interview with the new issue of Q magazine, she said: "I used to really unravel the anxiety. I can't stop crying, I can't dress, I can't get this cynical negative thinking that gets really dark, that says I shouldn't exist I go down a hole quite fast.
"I was like, 'Do I really need to stop for a bit?' But yes this confirms it's sad because I do feel at the peak of my performance, of my connection with the audience, there is something special going on in these shows, the exchange of energy.
"But my mental health has taken a battering. It used to be that was a price I was willing to pay; I don't think it is now."
The 32-year-old musician admits when her anxiety peaks she is unable to prevent "really dark" thoughts from entering her mind and although she feels as though she can always make it on stage she struggles to deal with the other rigours of life on the road.
The 'Shake It Out' hitmaker - who is headlining Barclaycard presents British Summer Time Hyde Park on July 13 - added: "Even in the midst of a full-blown anxiety attack, I can do the show. There's a level of sensitivity that allows me to perform, but it makes functioning otherwise very hard. I don't have infinite resources, I've come to realise."
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