Eurovision star Mikolas Josef has opened up on his mental health struggles in a lengthy social media post.
The 24-year-old won a legion of fans when he competed in the 2018 edition of the annual song contest with the song 'Lie To Me' for the Czech Republic, ultimately finishing in sixth place.
"I have anxiety and over the years it got to its peak early this year," he wrote. "The first time I had one was back in 2016. Fast forward to 2020 my body shakes for 4 hours, heart races like Im having a heart attack, when I stand Im falling down, I cant put words together and my asthma makes it feel like there is no oxygen in the air. The panic that takes over your mind is overwhelming."
He continued: "I cutted social media out of my life because looking at people showing off their success was crushing my self worth to bits. I realized I became shallow. Based my confidence on 20k$ outfits while the inside of me was a wasteland. Realized I paid way too much attention to what people outside the creative circle are saying about my music and that took the love away from it.
"I became distant from myself, my feelings, my values. I felt like a stranger in my own company. I almost never went out, never really had friends or buddies it was complete social isolation and I got so cutted away from the real world that my thoughts were my only companions."
Read Josef's post in full below:
