Simon Webbe believes 'Strictly Come Dancing' helped him overcome his battle with depression.
Simon Webbe
The 39-year-old singer has revealed he was plagued with suicidal thoughts in the past and when he competed on the BBC One dancing competition in 2011, which saw him come second in the contest, he gradually felt a "weight vanish" from him and he didn't feel as unhappy with himself.
Speaking about his internal battle to Shortlist magazine, the British musician said: "Those thoughts start ... drinking too much and having these thoughts it's not a good mix.
"I used to have thoughts of how I'm going to end it. How do I do this? Do I just jump on my motorbike and take a corner at 70mph and see what happens? I'd get on my bike and still do 30.
"I was in hysterics backstage [on 'Strictly Come Dancing'], I couldn't stop but afterwards I just felt this weight vanish. Those thoughts were gone."
The 'No Worries' hitmaker thinks his depression kicked in during his time in the boy band Blue, which he was in with Duncan James, Lee Ryan and Antony Costa, because he felt he was being "false" to himself as he never intended to be a musician and had always aspired to be a footballer instead.
He explained: "I honestly didn't think I deserved it. I didn't go through drama school, I wasn't made for this industry - I wanted to be a footballer - I just happened to be in this group because my face fit.
"But that's going to wear off. People are going to look at me and they're going to see that I'm really a fake.
"Depression starts from there because you're being false to yourself. You're not going in there with a free spirit and believing."
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