Ellie Goulding Talks Troubled Past with Cosmopolitan UKEllie Goulding Covers Cosmopolitan Uk January 2014

Ellie Goulding is the Cosmopolitan UK January 2014 cover girl. The Brit-Award winning singer offers a candid interview for the magazine in which she sheds light on the issues she had to face while growing up from overcoming body image issues to battling panic attacks and mending her broken heart.

Though the singer admits she's in a good place now and she feels at her strongest now, it wasn't always like that. At one point, she was obsessed with her weight. “I went through a time of being quite insecure. I’d convinced myself I was fat; I didn’t like my figure and I had a big nose. Now I’ve finally got to a place where I don’t focus on those things,” she stated, adding that she changed the way she looks at food in the process: “At university I went through a phase of being terrified of eating carbs; instead I’d just eat sweets and chocolate. I realize now that was ridiculous. I lacked energy and fell asleep in my lectures. Now I don’t deprive myself – everything in moderation!”

An even more serious issue she had to overcome was facing serious panic attacks: “One day after a shoot I was on a train going to a funeral and my heart was pounding; I thought I was having a heart attack. When I got to Cardiff, the next train was cancelled, so I had to get in a cab with strangers to Hereford. I was so scared I reached over to this woman and said, ‘I think I’m dying.’” she stated. For these issues, cognitive behavioral therapy turned out to be very helpful.