Meghan Trainor has previously opened up about her struggles with her mental health, but has now admitted she had a “mental breakdown” and suffered a full on panic attack three years ago, when she was reading out the Grammy nominations with Gayle King.
She told Zane Lowe in an interview for Apple Music’s Beats 1 Radio:
“I had, like, a mental breakdown and I had panic attacks live on television with Gayle King. I was reading the nominees for the Grammys the year after I won and I was shaking and I was like, ‘Please don’t collapse on TV right now. We’re live.'”
Although Meghan made it through the broadcast, she said she “started scream crying” as soon as the show was over. “And as soon as they were like, ‘Cut,’ I fell and started scream-crying and couldn’t breathe. And later, they took me away,” she said.
Trainor continued, “I was supposed to do more work and they were like, ‘We’re done. This is it.’ It was because I had, I can’t say who, but I had a lot of people tell me, like, ‘If you cancel on this 30-minute set, we’ll never play Meghan Trainor ever again.’ So I had everything. I had my Grammy, I had what people dream of for years. I had everything I ever wanted, and they were threatening to take it away.”
The singer admitted that she was also experiencing vocal problems from “working too much” and “finally collapsed physically and emotionally” as a result. Trainor’s breakdown and eventual hospitalization is what led her to realize the severity of her exhaustion.
In overcoming the scary experience, Trainor has come to understand the importance of self-care. She also revealed that she’s learned to “believe” in and “love” herself.
Trainor credited her husband, Daryl Sabara, and her family for helping her through the tough time, adding: “Daryl helped me a lot on being positive and meditating. And now I have a different perspective on everything. I realize I have a great job. We’re always like, ‘Don’t forget how awesome life can be!'”