Even a TV ad can set off my anxiety
“It’s something that you learn to live with.”
But the one thing that has really helped Samia keep her panic attacks at bay isn’t any form of psychotherapy – it’s regular sessions of yoga.
“I’ve been doing it daily and that is helping my breathing more than anything,” she says. “I wish I’d done it continuously years ago.”
Samia first revealed her anxiety struggles on social media in Mental Health Awareness Week last year.
Now she has told how she has constant battles with herself – and how television adverts have become one of her latest triggers.
She went on: “I’m one of those people that, if I’ve not got anything to worry about, then I worry that something’s going to happen.
“With my anxiety it’s always like a sense of dread that something bad is about to happen. It’ll be different, like obsessions. Recently it’s been like a health anxiety about everything.
“I can’t even watch a charity advert for cancer or something. I have to turn the channel over. I’m hypersensitive. It’s like a daily battle against yourself, in a way.”
Samia credits her husband Sylvain, 38, with helping her through the dark days.
The couple met as Dancing On Ice partners in 2013 and have a three-year-old son together.
Skater Sylvain knows what to do Samia is lever for others to talk On red carpet when Samia has a panic attack. In a recent interview she recalled one episode at home last year, explaining: “My husband holds me really tight when I have it, which thankfully, touch wood, is not that often. “He holds me so I can’t move, because you feel like your heart is going to explode. “Your heartbeat is way over 100 and you feel you are going to have a heart attack. I remember saying to him ‘Phone the ambulance – I feel like I’m gonna die!’
“And he just Samia with Sylvain Dancing On Ice pair Samia and Sylvain holds me really, really tight and says ‘It’s going to be okay, just calm down and breathe’. “After about 10 minutes it subsides and then you’re absolutely shattered afterwards.” Samia has been praised for opening up about mental health – echoing the Sunday Mirror’s Time To Change campaign to give sufferers a better deal. She hopes going public might prompt others with anxiety to seek help. janine.yaqoob@ mirror.co.uk
My husband holds me tight when I have attack and says ‘it will be OK’ ACTRESS SAMIA ON ICE STAR SYLVAIN’S SUPPORT