James Arthur says he smoked an “ungodly amount of weed” to get through anxiety while on ‘X Factor’

James Arthur has said that he smoked an “ungodly amount of weed” to deal with his anxiety while competing on The X Factor.

The Middlesbrough singer won season nine of ITV’s reality singing contest in 2012 with the single ‘Impossible’.

Arthur has spoken openly about his struggles with mental health in the past, which included experiencing a panic attack during his time on The X Factor.

The artist has now revealed that he smoked marijuana regularly for 10 years, including throughout the show, to help manage his symptoms.

“I smoked an ungodly amount of weed, I smoked weed every day for like 10 years,” he said in an interview with the Private Parts podcast (via Daily Star). “A lot of weed, a lot of weed, the paranoia made it worse, and yeah drinking and stuff like that.”

The ‘Just Us’ singer also opened up about the experience of his “first major panic attack” where ambulances were called and Arthur thought he was “dying and all that kind of shit”.

He added: “It was all a bit much, it was the contrast from bedsit to national TV, it was at the peak of its powers when I was on that show, like 12million people a week were watching.”

The singer said his mental health hit a new low when he was dropped from Simon Cowell’s label Syco. “I did not want to be here at all. Because the thing that I worked towards my whole life seemingly was gone and there was zero chance of it coming back, one in a million chance of it coming back,” he shared.

He added that he “probably wouldn’t be here” if he hadn’t found a new record deal. The singer has spoken in the past about struggles with loneliness and suffering with sex addiction.

“I started bingeing on sex. I became as addicted to sex as I was to weed. I craved sex, I had to have it and I needed it to fill the void and make myself feel better,” he said in his autobiography Back To The Boy.

Arthur’s fifth album, ‘Bitter Sweet Love’, is due to be released on January 26, 2024.

For help and advice on mental health:

• Help Musicians UK – Around the clock mental health support and advice for musicians (CALL MUSIC MINDS MATTER ON: 0808 802 8008)
• CALM – The Campaign Against Living Miserably
• Music Support Org – Help and support for musicians struggling with alcoholism, addiction, or mental health issues (CALL: 0800 030 6789)
• YOUNG MINDS – The voice for young people’s health and wellbeing
• Time To Change – Let’s end mental health discrimination
• The Samaritans – Confidential support 24 hours a day

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