15 Celebs You Didn't Know Had Anxiety

One of the worst things about struggling with anxiety is you feel totally alone. Feelings of constant dread, panic, and worry tend to be extremely isolating, and can even trick you into thinking that nobody else in the world could understand what you're going through. The good news is that's simply untrue! Problems with anxiety are extremely common, and affect people you know as well as the celebrities you don't. Being nervous is exhausting at the best of times, but imagine what it must be like when you've got paparazzi following you, crowds of people to walk through and press to answer to! The following stars have all dealt with some serious anxiety issues, and many of them can offer up some pretty fresh advice when it comes to getting past it all. Whether they've nipped the anxiety in the bud or still struggle with it, these stories are inspiring!

15 Zayn Malik

You would definitely think that being in the biggest boy band in the world would instill some confidence in you and help you get over any stage fright issues, but that's not always the case! Anxiety doesn't have to make much sense, and in Zayn Malik's case, it reared its jittery head big time when he stepped out as a solo artist. He's spoken about how he used to feel nervous before performing live with One Direction, and dealt with the nerves by ignoring them and occupying his mind until it was time to get on stage. However, the anxiety has been considerably worse since he's become a solo artist, and the pre-performance nerves have even scarred him out of getting on stage before. But Zayn is beginning to trust his chops as an artist, believe in his own artistic vision and know that he has every right to own that stage!

14 Britney Spears

It isn't a huge surprise that Britney Spears has struggled with fame before. But it always seemed like the Princess of Pop was completely comfortable on stage, and had a hard time dealing with the paparazzi, media interest, and mobbing that used to go on. However, it seems that Brit also gets uncomfortable in front of audiences. When she was working on The X-Factor, she reportedly suffered from “panic attack after panic attack” on the first day of shooting. In fact, the nerves were so intense that she very nearly walked away from the show. “… on the first day,” said Simon Cowell, “100 percent she didn't think she was going to be able to do [it].” We've seen from the show that Britney did make a superb judge, and though she looked a little uncomfortable, she did get through it by facing her fears and challenging herself. According to Simon, she “blossomed week by week.”

13 Barbra Streisand

Singer and actress Barbra Streisand appears to be totally confident when she gets on stage-after all, it's her job and she's good at it! In actual fact, she suffers from severe stage fright. Her fear stemmed from one terrible performance where she forgot the lyrics as she was singing. The whole thing was so scary for her that she couldn't get back on a stage for 30 years, and the stage fright eventually turned into social anxiety disorder. It's sad when fear gets in between you and something that you love, but it happens more than you'd think! To regain control of her life, Barbra started seeing a therapist, trying out medication and putting in place objects that would help her perform, like teleprompters. Her nerves might not have disappeared completely, but she has learned how to manage those feelings and has now returned to doing what she loves. Go girl!

12 Kylie Jenner

We know-the words Jenner or Kardashian and anxiety don't seem like they belong in the same sentence. Hollywood's royal family certainly appears to have skin a couple of layers thicker than the rest of us! But the youngest sister of the clan, Kylie, has opened up about feeling stunned and nervous with all the pressure that comes attached to her name. When you think about it, unlike her older sisters, Kylie has been in the public eye since she was little, and probably doesn't have many memories of a world without paparazzi and cameras. Public obsession and reporters at her door has always been her life, and that has to be overwhelming to say the least! During one episode of her family's reality show, Kylie suffered a panic attack on the red carpet, and ran away from doing an interview. Hopefully she gets a little peace and calm back into her life!

11 Nicole Kidman

Actress Nicole Kidman suffers from anxiety in a number of ways, which are undoubtedly made worse by her demanding job. Her body responds to feelings of pressure or a loss of control with panic attacks, which you'll know if you've suffered them, can be traumatic. We imagine that she'd be feeling like she's lost control of the situation a lot when it comes to hordes of fans and the media writing things about her, so she'd have to put a lot of effort into managing the attacks. Nicole actually prefers to have enough space around her to breathe comfortably and not feel overwhelmed when she's out in public, and the people trying to crowd her have led to her developing social anxiety. She's also been known to be so unable to wind down when she starts filming a new movie that she just can't fall asleep. Poor Nicole! That's some intense stress.

10 Kristen Bell

She brought us Gossip Girl, Frozen, and Veronica Mars, and all the while she was hiding a serious struggle with anxiety and depression. While anxiety can occur in response to a traumatic event, Kristen actually had a family history of serotonin imbalance, and has relatives who also suffer from the same kinds of issues. She's since opened up about needing to take medication for depression, something she's been doing since she was a young girl. In an interview on Off Camera in 2016, she talked about her mother letting her know that it was normal. “I still take it today and I have no shame in that, because my mom had said to me, 'If you start to feel this way, talk to your doctor, talk to a psychologist, see how you want to help yourself.'” By finding a coping strategy that works for her, Kristen has been able to enjoy a highly successful career!

9 Lena Dunham

Girls star Lena Dunham is another anxiety sufferer, and she's been completely open about her journey. For her, anxiety can come from overthinking and worrying about things that are beyond her control, like age. “I thought, in two and a half years I'll be 30, then 10 years from that I'll be 40, then 10 years from that I'll be 50… It's why I don't sleep at night," she said, of a recent panic attack she'd had. To help her cope with the feelings of stress and frustration, Lena swears by exercise. On an Instagram post, Lena talked about why she exercises, and how it's helped her mental health immensely. "To those struggling with anxiety, OCD, depression: I know it's mad annoying when people tell you to exercise, and it took me about 16 medicated years to listen. I'm glad I did. It ain't about the a$$, it's about the brain.”

8 Emma Stone

Emma Stone has been suffering from anxiety since she was a child, and there have been moments when she almost lost control. “The first time I had a panic attack I was sitting in my friend's house, and I thought the house was burning down. I called my mom and she brought me home, and for the next three years it just would not stop,” she recalled of her first panic attack as a child. “I would go to the nurse at lunch most days and just wring my hands. I would ask my mom to tell me exactly how the day was going to be, then ask again 30 seconds later. I just needed to know that no one was going to die and nothing was going to change.” After developing agoraphobia as a result of her panic attacks, Emma found healthy ways to manage the stress and now lives a normal life.

7 Amanda Seyfried

Mean Girls actress Amanda Seyfried is a fellow sufferer of panic attacks, and has admitted that she still regularly sees a therapist to help her cope with them. Like many other anxious people, Amanda has a natural tendency to overthink things, which then leads to vast amounts of worry. "I still do get terribly nervous, and that's partly due to the fact I think too much and overanalyze things," she said. "I'll start worrying about my parents or my dog, and I'll picture him opening the window of my apartment and falling out, even though I can't get that thing open myself." Her advice? Not allowing the fear to scare you away. "I've suffered from anxiety and panic attacks for many years and you learn to fight your fears by facing up to them," she revealed. “I just try to relax and not let myself get wrapped up in unimportant things."

6 Ellie Goulding

Singer Ellie Goulding has also been in therapy for panic attacks, which began once her career was already rolling. “One day after a shoot I was on a train going to a funeral and my heart was pounding; I thought I was having a heart attack,” she told Metro UK in 2013. “I was so scared I reached over to this woman and said, 'I think I'm dying.' I called a friend to take me to hospital, where they told me it was just a panic attack. From that day, I kept having them. It was the weirdest time of my life. Sick, horrible things would go through my mind but I didn't want to draw attention to myself… It got to the point when I couldn't even get into the car and go to the studio." It looks like the therapy has been working though, because Ellie has been out and about and killing it!

5 Sarah Silverman

Comedians seem like the last people to deal with anxiety, or depression for that matter, but we know from people like the late Robin Williams that the personas celebrities put on can often hide what's really going on. Sarah Silverman actually started dealing with mental health issues when she was 13 years old. A long-time sufferer of panic attacks, she takes issue with the way people can unknowingly trivialize the problem. “People use 'panic attack' very casually out here in Los Angeles, but I don't think most of them really know what it is. Every breath is labored. You are dying. You are going to die. It's terrifying. And then when the attack is over, the depression is still there.” Sarah's right-the problem is that when people think panic attacks are mildly freaking out over something small, they don't empathize when you have a real one. Good on her for raising awareness!

4 Demi Lovato

Former Disney star Demi Lovato has struggled with anxiety in addition to other issues including eating disorders, depression, and substance abuse. She finds the constant crowds of people surrounding her to be anxiety-inducing, and who could blame her! “Sometimes, a fan will come up and automatically put their arms around me and I just shut down and start hyperventilating… I really do have anxiety problems. If I get stuck in a crowd, I'll start to think, 'Oh my God, I'm going to die. Something's going to go wrong and someone's going to stab me.'" Demi turned her life around when she checked into rehab in 2011, and started being honest about what was going on. “I think the more people vocalize what they're going through-their experience or just simply educating themselves,” she told Huffington Post in 2015, “that's going to be the key to creating a conversation about mental illness and making it more understood.”

3 Whoopi Goldberg

Actress, comedienne, and all-round superstar Whoopi Goldberg suffered from anxiety in a very specific way-she had a phobia. It's pretty clear that somebody in Whoopi's position needs to get on a plane pretty frequently, to attend meetings, shoots, appearances and all kinds of things, but Whoopi suffered a serious fear of flying. After witnessing two planes colliding in the air when she was younger, Whoopi understandably developed a fear of getting on a plane herself. To combat this kind of anxiety, exposure therapy is usually used, and in Whoopi's case, that meant enrolling in a 'flying without fear' program. Before she sought help for her fear, Whoopi would only travel by car, train or bus, and was basically restricted to long travel times in order to get from one side of the country to another. The fear of flying is actually incredibly common, so you're definitely not alone if you struggle with it!

2 Abraham Lincoln

Okay, so Abraham Lincoln might not be what you were thinking at the word “celeb”, but hey, the man was a pretty prominent figure! He's also an example that anxiety isn't just a recent issue, and people have actually been battling nerves since before they even knew what they were battling! Though he wasn't diagnosed at the time, historians and psychiatric researchers have agreed that he suffered from severe generalized anxiety disorders during his presidency. The evidence found in the letters and journals he wrote indicates that the traumatic events he survived in his life understandably led to this anxiety. Before he even became President, he lost his mother and his older sister. Ten out of his twelve children died before him, and he failed at meeting his goals until relatively later in life. He also felt insecure about his lack of education and social upbringing compared to his colleagues and competitors.

1 Adele

The number-one spot on our list has to go to somebody that to us embodies total confidence. Adele is arguably the biggest solo act in the world right now, as she makes her way around the world filling stadiums of thousands every night. Listening to her belt out these huge ballads, you'd never guess that Adele suffers from social phobia, stage fright, and panic attacks. While we love all the jokes she comes up with as she paces across the stage in between songs, she's admitted that this is how she deals with her nerves. She's said that her nerves never completely go away until she's off stage, so she has to learn to perform with them rather than forcing them to disappear. In the past she's tried to run away through the fire escape at shows, but we're glad she's been able to conquer her fears and deliver some world class music!