Rita Ora has “really bad anxiety” but has learned to recognize the signs an attack is coming.
The “Hot Right Now” hitmaker believes many other stars in the public eye are similarly afflicted. She’s learned to combat her struggles with alternative therapies and Chinese medicine.
“I have really bad anxiety. I think anyone in my industry has anxiety, to be honest. It is, I think, now really cool that it’s become a conversation. There’s days that are better than other days — just like anxiety is, just like having panic attacks.” Ora said to Evgeny Lebedev on his “Brave New World” podcast.
“I’ve really learned now to recognize when it’s coming. Before I would still feel like it was foreign, and I would do little things, like in my nervous system around for me is my stomach. I do a lot of acupuncture around there, and I just breathe and … just lie there for about 20 minutes. I do love Chinese medicine; I try and incorporate a lot of different methods. I’m not just a one-person thing.” she added.
The singer is “obsessed” with the methods of Wim Hof — which include infrared saunas followed by a cold plunge — and had a “really special” visit from Hof himself, who guided her and husband Taika Waititi through a meditation.
“I actually asked him to come and surprise my husband for his birthday. My husband isn’t as obsessed as I am, and he didn’t know [Hof] was coming. For him to fly in and do this for us was really special. … [W]e woke up, it was his birthday and in [Hof] walked. My jaw dropped,” Ora said.
“I just thought, ‘Wow he’s real!” because I’ve always heard his methods and listened to him online. He’s just as crazy and fun as I thought he was going to be. He did a 20-minute meditation thing with the breathing; we lied down in the shade and you couldn’t hear anything, just the birds,” she added.
