Perrie Edwards has revealed she ‘couldn’t leave home for a month’ due to her agoraphobia.
During an appearance on the We Need To Talk podcast with Paul C. Brunson, the Little Mix star, 32, candidly opened up about her crippling anxiety.
She explained: ‘I couldn’t leave the house in September… and it was so intense. I remember thinking, this is not what I want for my life… I want to get married. I want to have more kids.
‘I want to have a successful career. I want to do all these things. And I feel like I’m really limited in my capabilities… my capacity was not big. It was really minuscule.’
Agoraphobia involves fearing and avoiding places or situations that might cause panic and feelings of being trapped, helpless or embarrassed. You may fear an actual or upcoming situation.
Perrie went on to share how agoraphobia severely affected her career: ‘With work and stuff, I thought, is it even worth it for me anymore? I don’t know if it is… I don’t want to feel that way every time I leave the house and go to work.’
Perrie Edwards has revealed she ‘couldn’t leave home for a month’ due to her agoraphobia
She explained: ‘I couldn’t leave the house in September… and it was so intense. I remember thinking, this is not what I want for my life… I want to get married. I want to have more kids’
Perrie credited therapy as being crucial to her recovery: ‘I have therapy every Friday. We got to the point in one of the sessions, and I kept saying, like, sometimes when I’m feeling anxious and I’m in a car and I’m in traffic or in certain situations, I start to feel a bit trapped.
‘And we kind of discovered that my whole upbringing and my whole childhood were in a body that wasn’t working, and that must have felt almost a little bit claustrophobic – being in a body that wasn’t doing the right functions. But I couldn’t escape it, and I couldn’t help it.’
Earlier this year, Perrie admitted she fears she ‘might die’ as she opened up about her ongoing battle with panic disorder.
The former Little Mix star revealed she finds it difficult to spend time alone, fearing she could suffer a life-threatening panic attack without anyone around to help.
In an interview on Alison Hammond’s Big Weekend, Perrie invited the presenter into her home and spoke openly about how anxiety has affected her everyday life.
Perrie said: ‘I’ve developed panic disorder. So it’s the fear of having a panic attack. A few years ago, I started suffering from severe panic attacks.
‘I then developed a fear of having one again because I was like, if I’m on my own and have a panic attack, I might die, and nobody will be here to help.’
She candidly added: ‘That’s why I’m never on my own. Never. I’m always with somebody. I don’t like the feeling of feeling like I’m gonna die.’
During an appearance on the We Need To Talk podcast with Paul C. Brunson, the Little Mix star, 32, candidly opened up about her crippling anxiety
‘I want to have a successful career. I want to do all these things. And I feel like I’m really limited in my capabilities… my capacity was not big. It was really minuscule’
She is currently promoting her new song If He Wanted To He Would, which she announced on Instagram this week.
Perrie welcomed son Axel in 2021 with her partner Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. The pair announced their engagement in 2022.
Elsewhere during the podcast chat with Paul, Perrie revealed she suffered two heartbreaking baby losses.
Perrie shared that she first miscarried early into her first pregnancy, and discovered the devastating loss when she started bleeding and headed to the doctors.
She then went onto reveal that a year after giving birth to her ‘rainbow baby’ Axel, she discovered she was pregnant again, but tragically lost her baby at 24 weeks.
Speaking about her son, Perrie said: ‘Axel’s a rainbow baby.
‘So I had a miscarriage very early on with my first ever pregnancy, and it was so early. I remember finding out I was pregnant.
‘Obviously, I started bleeding not long after, and I went to the hospital and I had the scan and they were like, ‘There’s no baby.’
The Little Mix star gave birth to her first child with footballer Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in 2021 (pictured with Axel earlier this year)
She went onto reveal that a year after giving birth to her son Axel, she discovered she was pregnant again, but tragically lost her baby at 24 weeks (pictured while pregnant with Axel)
‘And I was like, ‘oh, I’ve made this up. Maybe I got a false positive or something.’ And I remember being on my own at the appointments because nobody was there.’
Perrie added that due to her miscarriage, she was ‘on edge’ while she expecting her son Axel, admitting she ‘just wanted to get past’ the 12-week scan.
‘And then when I had Axel, when I was pregnant with him, like, I loved being pregnant, it was one of the happiest times of my life. Like, I just love carrying babies,’ she said.
‘And it was lovely. But I was a bit on edge thinking, oh, gosh, like, I want to get past the 12 weeks. I want to get past this. And when I get past every scan and that pregnancy was complete bliss, it was perfect.’
Perrie then revealed the heartbreaking moment she learned she’d miscarried again following her 20-week scan, having learned she was pregnant again while rehearsing for Little Mix’s final tour in 2022.
She continued: ‘And then we fell pregnant again after. So maybe a year and probably not even. Actually, yeah. Not even a year, because Axel wasn’t even walking yet and we were pregnant.
‘And I remember thinking, right, I found out when I was rehearsing for the Little Mix tour, the last Little Mix tour, I was at rehearsals and I thought, oh, I don’t feel good. Every, every symptom under the sun. I was like, I think I’m pregnant.’
‘And then we went for what was a 20-week scan, but we were actually 22 weeks, and that was just the worst day of my life. Like horrendous.
‘And I just knew something was wrong in the scan, and he just kept going over the same thing, over the same thing… I’ve never experienced an out-of-body experience where everything goes in slow motion.’
Praising her husband-to-be Alex, Perrie admitted that she’s embraced his ‘laid-back’ and ‘levelheaded’ nature after struggling to overcome a ‘toxic’ relationship in her younger years
Recalling the moment she and Alex returned home from the hospital after learning the devastating news, she said: ‘So then I remember sobbing. He [Alex] was injured at the time and he couldn’t really drive.
‘He was struggling to drive, but I couldn’t see straight. I was just distraught. And yeah, we basically lost the baby at like 24 weeks.’
‘It’s weird because the first time it happened, I think because it was so early, I was like, oh, that’s hard. But I think when you’re fully, like carrying in your 24 weeks and you’ve planned out like that room and all these things, it’s really hard.’
‘And nobody knows other than, like, immediate friends and family. And I remember, like, shortly after, like, friends would message and be like, ”how’s the bump?” And I’ll be like, ”there is no bump.”’
Praising her husband-to-be Alex, Perrie admitted that she’s embraced his ‘laid-back’ and ‘levelheaded’ nature after struggling to overcome a ‘toxic’ relationship during her younger years.
She said: ‘Like, little things might happen, and I’d think, ”Oh, now he’s going to kick off, he’s not going to like this.” And I’d be like, ”Oh, this happened.” And he’d be like, ”Alright,” and it would throw me.
‘He’s very mature. He’s very laid back. He’s very levelheaded. He’s not the type to get mad or get angry or get funny about things.’
If you have been affected by this story, visit www.miscarriageassociation.org.uk or call 01924 200 799.
Listen to the full interview on Paul Brunson’s We Need To Talk, available on Tuesday.
