‘I thought I was having a heart attack in Ikea’: Ella Henderson reveals she was hospitalised in LA while battling ‘severe anxiety and panic attacks’ after leaving Simon Cowell’s record label
Ella Henderson has detailed her battle with anxiety and panic attacks and revealed she was hospitalised after suffering an episode in Ikea in LA.
The X Factor alum, 25, finished sixth on the show in 2012 and went on to enjoy huge success with her 2014 song Ghost leading to her becoming a global success yet she struggled after leaving Simon Cowell‘s record label Syco in 2017 and fell ill.
She told i: ‘I was in LA and it happened in Ikea of all places. I honestly thought I was having a heart attack. And I just started shouting at this woman like, ‘Help me! Help me!… I woke up in hospital on a drip and they told me I’d had a panic attack.’
Help: Ella Henderson has detailed her battle with anxiety and panic attacks and revealed she was hospitalised after suffering an episode in Ikea in LA
Ella’s X Factor appearance saw her act as one of Tulisa’s contestants and became a firm favourite to win the series, yet stunned when she eliminated – shocking her all-star supporters including Adele, Cher, Stephen Fry and Chloe Moretz.
Despite success with her first album Chapter One, Ella dropped off the radar between 2015 and 2019, having departed Syco in late 2017 in a ‘mutual agreement’ between both parties.
Around 2019, is when Ella began to struggle with her mental health and she began to suffer with her crippling anxiety, which often meant she couldn’t leave the house.
Speaking about how she seems so adjusted now, she said: ‘I’ve gone through dark times and I’ve hit rock bottom. I’ve gone through severe anxiety, panic attacks, not being able to leave the house and feeling, I don’t know, just really lost.’
Pained: The X Factor alum, 25, finished sixth on the show in 2012 and went on to enjoy huge success with her 2014 song Ghost leading to her becoming a global success yet she struggled after leaving Simon Cowell’s record label Syco in 2017 and fell ill
Gone: Despite success with her first album Chapter One, Ella dropped off the radar between 2015 and 2019, having departed Syco in late 2017 in a ‘mutual agreement’ between both parties
On how she felt after leaving Syco, she said: ‘I started feeling this massive pressure that no one was putting on me – I was putting it on myself…
‘I was in LA and it happened in Ikea of all places. I honestly thought I was having a heart attack. And I just started shouting at this woman in front of me like, ‘Help me! Help me!’ And I don’t really know what happened next…
‘All I know is I woke up in hospital on a drip and they told me I’d had a panic attack.”
After becoming a self-professed ‘hermit crab’, Ella overcame her problems with the help of daily meditation and focus on her goals each morning.
Ella has also spoken in the past about her refusal to be pressured into changing her body shape while in the spotlight. She admitted that her experiences with extreme dieting in the past has influenced the way she treats herself.
She explained: ‘There is pressure out there on young women. You look around you, in magazines and you think, “Should I be skinny? Do I need to go on a diet?”
‘It’s easy to fall into that trap. Last year [in 2011] I was very body-conscious. I went completely the other way and I went underweight at a certain point.
‘I’m a normal-sized girl. I’ll never be a size zero, that’s just not going to happen but I’m simply going to be myself and I hope people will accept me for who I am.’
Starring role: Ella’s X Factor appearance saw her act as one of Tulisa’s contestants and became a firm favourite to win the series, yet stunned when she eliminated – shocking her all-star supporters including Adele, Cher, Stephen Fry and Chloe Moretz