My anxiety will get so bad I can’t even leave the house
Vogue’s torment...and how TV boyfriend Spencer helps
I will get a racing heart and my whole body is tense ...it’s difficult to explain VOGUE WILLIAMS ON BATTLE TO BEAT CRIPPLING ANXIETY
REALITY TV star Vogue Williams has opened her heart about battling anxiety – and how her celebrity boyfriend Spencer Matthews helps her cope.
Vogue says Spencer, 28 – the brother-in-law of Pippa Middleton – “is my best pal”.
She says they don’t argue – which she says is a relationship first for her.
And that helps her tackle a condition which at times confines her to the house and at others leaves her grinding her teeth uncontrollably.
Vogue, 32, was diagnosed with crippling anxiety in 2015 during her very public split from former Westlife star Brian Mcfadden.
The Dublin model said of her battle: “It is horrible. Sometimes I wouldn’t want to go out. I keep myself to myself and I am not one for going out with huge groups of people any more.
“It is something I can manage by going to the gym. I don’t know where it stems from. Usually it goes away when I am really busy.
WEIRD
“I have started wearing gum shields again because I grind my teeth really badly when I go to bed. It is really weird and hard to explain to people.
“I will get a racing heart and my whole body is tense. I will get knackered after a day if I have been anxious. I’ve had it since my early 20s.”
The split with singer Brian, 37, made her even more anxious.
She added: “I had it before but going through that made it so much worse. I had a really bad back for a while and had to go on medication, so that made it worse.
“That was when I was at my lowest. I was on a beta-blocker – it blocks the symptoms of anxiety. I wasn’t sleeping... or I was getting an hour a night.
“It doesn’t discriminate – so many people have it. Social media is putting so much pressure on, and it leaves you never feeling good enough. It is the world we live in now.”
Vogue’s candid revelations chime with the Time To Change campaign backed by the Sunday Mirror. It aims to shine a light on the issue and improve treatment for those with mental illness.
A documentary on Vogue – who has appeared on dance contest Stepping Out, celebrity ski show The Jump and Bear Grylls: Mission To Survive – appeared on RTE Two last month.
She recently moved in with former Made In Chelsea star Spencer – whose brother James, 42, is married to 34-year-old Pippa Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge’s sister. Vogue and Spencer went public with their romance in April.
She said: “We moved in together. He was away for five weeks for a show so I am glad he is back. He is my best pal. I remember thinking we would be best friends for ever. It is the first relationship where I don’t have fights with people. We have disagreements, but that’s OK.
“I am happy with how it’s going and with not being married.”
Vogue also told how Spencer had a “tough time” filming Channel 4’s Celebrity Hunted, where stars went to extreme measures to evade capture from expert hunters. She explained: “He was away for a couple of weeks doing Celebrity Hunted too.
“He came back a shadow of his former self. He was so skinny and he had shaved his head.
“He didn’t look that well and he had a really tough time.
“Such a great show. I had never seen it but it’s so good!”
halina.watts@trinitymirror.com