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Celebrity4 min(s) read
Singer Lewis Capaldi has revealed there is a "very real possibility" he may have to retire from making music if his Tourette's Syndrome continues to worsen over time.
Capaldi, 26, has shot to fame over the past few years due to his soulful songs and his unfiltered personality, however, he has found that being in the industry has caused the condition to progress.
He was diagnosed last year and had told fans he wanted to be open about having Tourette's - a condition of the nervous system which causes sudden twitches, movements, or sounds known as tics - as he "didn't want people to think he was taking cocaine."
While Capaldi has generally remained upbeat about having Tourette's, he admitted in a new interview that he believes the condition will limit how long he is able to make music.
He told The Times: "It's only making music that does this to me, otherwise I can be fine for months at a time, so it's a weird situation.
"Right now, the trade-off is worth it, but if it gets to a point where I'm doing irreparable damage to myself, I'll quit. I hate hyperbole but it is a very real possibility that I will have to pack music in."
The 'Someone You Loved' singer ha found that his tics become "quite bad: while performing on stage, partially due to the anxiety of having to put on a show for thousands of adoring fans.
He opened up about his tics and other health issues, including bronchitis and vertigo, after he came off Sertraline - a medication prescribed for anxiety and other conditions.
Capaldi explained in a clip from his upcoming Netflix documentary How I'm Feeling Now, which will be released on April 5, that his tics can leave him in physical pain.
He revealed, as cited by The Independent: "The twitches became out of control it was awful, absolutely horrific. I started to get in my head about it, you know these pressures about things. Rather than just me singing my silly little songs other people are depending on me.
"My twitch gets worse when I sit down to play piano, physically painful. And I get really short of breath and it's like my back f**king kills me when I go to do it."
Capaldi has also been open about his struggles with panic attacks, admitting: "It feels like I'm going insane, I can't breathe, I get dizzy, I'm sweating, my whole body starts convulsing.
"Either I feel like I’m going to be stuck with it forever or I’m going to die."
In order to combat the debilitating feeling of living with anxiety, Capaldi sought help from a therapist before undergoing further tests which identified that he also had Tourette's Syndrome.
Capaldi also opened up about feeling like he has imposter syndrome, despite winning multiple awards and building up a huge fanbase who have bought millions of his records, about which he wrote his song 'The Pretender'.
He spoke to Ed Sheeran about his feelings of inadequacy over beers together, after which Elton John also reached out to him to offer words of support.
Capaldi also admitted that he was surprised his documentary ended up being such a "sad watch" after beginning filming while he was on tour when the pandemic began and the industry largely shut down for many months.
The footage then turned to following him making his second record, as he added: "Then it became a deeper look into aspects of my life that even I wasn’t aware of.
"In a way, it ended up like my career – it just got away from me."
