--- title: Ellie Goulding Opens Up About Having Panic Attacks description: Pop star Ellie Goulding recently began her Delirium tour, but this week she made headlines for a different reason. In her interview for FLARE magazine's summer cover story, Goulding discussed her past struggle with mental illness. canonical: https://time.com/4342323/ellie-goulding-mental-health/ author: Megan Lasher article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-19T21:18:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:02:32.498Z og:title: Ellie Goulding Opens Up About Her Panic Attacks og:description: 'I couldn’t go to the studio unless I was lying down in the car' og:url: https://time.com/4342323/ellie-goulding-mental-health/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9e201031dfbbae7/698894083c1639b61445d565/ellie-goulding.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4200 og:image:height: 2363 og:image:alt: The 58th GRAMMY Awards og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ellie Goulding Opens Up About Her Panic Attacks twitter:description: 'I couldn’t go to the studio unless I was lying down in the car' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9e201031dfbbae7/698894083c1639b61445d565/ellie-goulding.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ellie Goulding Opens Up About Her Panic Attacks by [Megan Lasher](https://time.com/author/megan-lasher/) ## Megan Lasher May 19, 2016 9:18 PM UTC  Singer Ellie Goulding arrives at The 58th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on February 15, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. Singer Ellie Goulding arrives at The 58th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on February 15, 2016 in Los Angeles, California.Axelle/Bauer-Griffin—FilmMagic/Getty by [Megan Lasher](https://time.com/author/megan-lasher/) ## Megan Lasher May 19, 2016 9:18 PM UTC Pop star Ellie Goulding recently began her Delirium tour, but this week she [made headlines](http://metro.co.uk/2016/05/18/ellie-goulding-admits-to-cognitive-behavioural-therapy-to-battle-crippling-panic-attacks-5889090/) for a different reason: In her interview for [_FLARE_ magazine’s summer cover story](http://www.flare.com/celebrity/cover-stars/ellie-goulding-interview-summer-2016/), Goulding discussed her past struggle with panic attacks. Goulding said that after dealing with panic attacks in her career, she coped “\[b\]y having cognitive behavioural therapy. I was skeptical at first because I’d never had therapy, but not being able to leave the house was so debilitating,” she told _FLARE._ “And this was when my career was really taking off. My surroundings would trigger a panic attack, so I couldn’t go to the studio unless I was lying down in the car with a pillow over my face. I used to beat myself up about it.” [_Follow Motto on Facebook._](https://www.facebook.com/mottoworkplaylive/) Things have gotten better for the English singer: “There were a couple of times after I released _Delirium_ when I was doing promo and thought, ‘Oh god, it’s coming back, it’s coming back,’ but it didn’t. I think my body has become quite good at controlling anxiety.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4342323/ellie-goulding-mental-health/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4342323/ellie-goulding-mental-health/"},"headline":"Ellie Goulding Opens Up About Her Panic Attacks","datePublished":"2016-05-19T21:18:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:02:32.498Z","description":"'I couldn’t go to the studio unless I was lying down in the car'","url":"https://time.com/4342323/ellie-goulding-mental-health/","keywords":["motto","News"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9e201031dfbbae7/698894083c1639b61445d565/ellie-goulding.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan Lasher","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-lasher/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9e201031dfbbae7/698894083c1639b61445d565/ellie-goulding.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The 58th GRAMMY Awards","caption":"Singer Ellie Goulding arrives at The 58th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on February 15, 2016 in Los Angeles, California.","creditText":"Axelle/Bauer-Griffin—FilmMagic/Getty","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4342323/ellie-goulding-mental-health/","name":"Ellie Goulding Opens Up About Her Panic Attacks"}}]}] ```