Ellie Goulding has opened up about her grandfather’s suicide in a post about mental health awareness.
The singer took to Instagram to talk about the importance of looking after our mental health, and mentioned her grandfather who took his own life.
Alongside a picture of herself in nature, Ellie wrote, ‘Today I’m thinking about my grandfather, who took his own life a few years back. I wish I had spoken to him more, and wish we could have had even the smallest clue of how unhappy he was.
READ MORE: Prince Harry and Ed Sheeran release video for World Mental Health Day
‘I admire those who get out of bed every morning and seize the day, even when they’re not feeling too great. That requires a lot of courage. Please know that you are doing amazingly and I’m proud of you.’
The Love Like You Do artist also touched on how her career affects her mental health, saying she relies on running and boxing to keep her ‘head straight’.
‘We all have a right to feel what we do, whatever it is, whoever we are- Exhilaration, madness, absolutely nothing at all, confusion, chronic sadness... (I can sometimes feel all these things in the space of a few days)’, she wrote.
‘I know I chose this job but nothing could have prepared me for the ups and downs that come with it. I know for sure that a lot of my anxiety has come from what they call “imposter syndrome” not believing in myself enough and thinking that I don’t deserve happiness, which results in wanting to sabotage my own success.
‘I keep my head straight by training every day (running and boxing mainly) and although it is so hard sometimes to be motivated, the feeling of blood pumping through my veins and a human body performing the way it so impressively does reminds me how cool it is to be alive.’
Ellie’s post comes after World Mental Health Awareness day, which happened last Thursday (10 October) and saw many celebrities open up about the important subject.
Included were Prince Harry and Ed Sheeran, who teamed up to do a funny video; and also the royal Fab Four, who launched a new website with tools to help people cope earlier in the week.
