One Direction star Liam Payne revealed being in the immensly popular boyband 'nearly killed him', and the idea of becoming famous in his solo venture was just as petrifying.
The 24-year-old singer - who first found fame at 14, when he appeared on The X Factor - admitted he worried about carving out a solo career when the boyband went on hiatus in 2015 because he wasn't sure he still wanted to be 'famous'.
Asked to recall his hardest emotional battle, Liam - who performed in One Direction alongside Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and previously, Zayn Malik - confessed: 'I've had a few, there have been some tough times.'
Talking to KISS FM for their 'Where's Your Head At?' campaign, Liam explained: 'When the band started our break I struggled with the idea of becoming famous again, it scared the living daylights out of me. Because the last time it nearly killed me, frankly.
'So I had to figure out a way to make it work for me - rather than me work for it.'
Liam - who has a 13-month-old son, Bear, with girlfriend Cheryl - believes a mixture of humour and brutal honesty are the most effective ways of dealing with fame.
Asked how he copes with public interest in his day-to-day life, Liam told the radio station: 'Laugh it off and remember it will become a story one day. And will seem funny.'
The Strip That Down hit maker added that having good, honest people around him has helped to keep his stresses in a healthy perspective.
He shared: 'I speak to a lot of people who are in the same position as me because I have grown up in the public eye. I was 14 which is so young to start in that process.
'I love my life, it's been fantastic but there have been a lot of struggles to get to this point. It's about having good people around you. They don't have to be a psychologist - just people who are friendly, someone to talk to.'
Liam spoke out to back the campaign, which is striving to break the stigma attached to talking about mental health and make it a legal requirement for every work place or college in the UK to have a mental health first aider.
The singer's candid interview comes after girlfriend Cheryl opened up about becoming a mother for the first time.
The 34-year-old beauty spoke to Glamour about son Bear, who turned one in March, saying that she had some tricks to make balancing her life easier.
When asked what advice she'd give to new mothers, Cheryl emphasised the importance of sleep, explaining: 'Sleep when the baby sleeps!'
'I used to do that for the first couple of months - just nap with him. Also, get your husband to cook!'
Cheryl, who has shunned the help of a nanny, also said that she has been practising yoga.
She said: 'I do love yoga. I like it for calming your state of mind so instead of doing mad cardio where it intensifies it, it calms you down.'
She said: 'I used to do that for the first couple of months - just nap with him. Also, get your husband to cook!'
Luckily for her, best friend and former Girls Aloud bandmate, Kimberley Walsh is mother to two children and Cheryl has been calling on her for help.
She said: 'I am always ringing Kimberley for baby tips and advice on how to entertain your one-year-old.'
No matter how many sleepless nights Cheryl has, her skin is always glowing and she has revealed exactly how she does it.
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She said she swears by the vitamin Lumity - a 2-step supplement full of vitamins, minerals, omega-3 fatty acids and amino acids.
'I take three in the morning and three at night,' she said. 'It's got everything that you need.'
And as well as being a mother, lover and pop star, Cheryl says she still has lots left to achieve.
She said: 'I've crammed quite a lot in over the last 16 years so I've done quite a lot of the stuff that was my dream but I still have a lot of creativity.
'So, work-wise, I'd maybe like to manage other artists or help on the record label side or directing with an artistic eye.'
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