Singer Ellie Goulding has opened up about her struggles with anxiety and how boxing and kickboxing has helped her manage it.

Writing for Well + Good magazine, Ellie explained how her problems began once her career started taking off in 2010 and suddenly everything began happening so fast.

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“I started having panic attacks, and the scariest part was it could be triggered by anything,” Ellie wrote. "I used to cover my face with a pillow whenever I had to walk outside from the car to the studio.

“My new life as a pop star certainly wasn’t as glamorous as all my friends from home thought,” she continued. “Secretly, I was really struggling physically and emotionally.”

Ellie explained that her anxiety was partly to do with not feeling confident and being scared she wasn’t as good of a singer as everyone thought she was. But it was before her Grammy performance last year that she realised if other people believed in her, she had to start believing in herself.

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“But there was another way I found inner confidence: boxing and kickboxing,” Ellie continued. "I love that extra kick of adrenaline. Keeping fit doesn’t mean spending hours at a gym; the key is to find a workout you really love.

“The more I started doing classes and also working out with my trainer, Faisal Abdalla, the better I felt about myself. And it wasn’t about any change in my outward appearance; it was about seeing and feeling myself get better and stronger.

“It carried over into other areas of my life, and now I truly feel that exercise—however you like to work out—is good for the soul.”

Ellie added that she still suffers from anxiety from time to time, but ‘it’s not crippling like it used to be’. “It took time, but I’ve accepted that everyone feels nervous before they perform—it’s not just me,” she concluded.

“And now that I believe in myself more, that confidence comes through, whether I’m working out, singing onstage, or just hanging out by myself at home.”