Bastille frontman Dan Smith has body dysmorphia and his insecurity has stopped the band from making many TV appearances because he doesn't like being filmed.
Bastille frontman Dan Smith has body dysmorphia.
The 'Pompeii' hitmaker has reflected on how he was a "pretty heavy kid" and even though he shed "a load of weight" while at university, he still feels self-conscious and "awkward" about the way he looks.
Speaking to the first issue of Rolling Stone UK magazine, he said: “I think I was a pretty shy teenager, and I was a pretty heavy kid, too. In the summer of my third year of university, I ended up unintentionally losing a load of weight.
“I think I went from about 17st to 11st over a really short period, which was a pretty massive physical transformation. I’d always been a large kid and then a larger young adult, so that was stitched into my identity and how I saw myself. In a weird way, it’s still how I see myself because those were my formative years.
“So even after losing a lot of weight, I’ve always been self-conscious and awkward about how I look. I’ve not ever articulated this publicly and I think I’ve just carried that kind of self-consciousness with me. I guess I probably have a level of body dysmorphia.”
Dan admitted his insecurity stopped Bastille from appearing on TV and he even turned down the chance to be a judge on 'The X Factor'.
He said: “Getting in front of the camera to do the things you do in a band has often felt odd and unnatural to me. We didn’t do any television ever.
“I was turning down a lot of interviews and panel shows, being a judge on 'The X Factor' and all these things that I just didn’t want to do. They were all amazing offers, but it wasn’t what I ever wanted out of this.”
Meanwhile, the 'Thelma + Louise' singer admitted the group's fourth album is heavily influenced by movies, including 'Blade Runner', 'The Matrix', and 'Total Recall'.
He said: “I started writing all these songs inspired by film worlds I’d want to be in, as well as fictional narratives I’d want to escape to.”
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