Alicia Keys isn't as confident as she appears.
Alicia Keys
The Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter admits the public's perception of her doesn't quite chime with the reality, revealing she is less confident than she pretends to be.
Alicia said: "I don't think I'm as confident and secure as the picture I paint. In fact, I'm pretty sure that I'm a lot less together than I look."
Alicia thinks there is a particular pressure on women to project themselves as being very self-confident.
But the New York-born singer admits she feels vulnerable about different things from time to time.
She told the Sunday Times newspaper: "We always want to seem like we have it figured out. It's only recently that I'm more willing to access the pain inside me, the vulnerability - those places of weakness where I felt forced to always be strong.
"It really takes a lot, and I still have to remind myself, like, 'Alicia, it's cool if you don't have your s**t together. Relax.'"
Alicia explained that her new-found self-acceptance has, in part, been uncovered by virtue of her Kundalini yoga practice.
The particular style of yoga includes meditation and chanting, which she has started doing on a daily basis and claims it has proven to be a huge help.
Alicia - who has two young children with her musician husband Swizz Beatz - explained: "The main phrase you chant is 'sat nam', which means 'I am truth'. I can't remind myself of that enough, and it's been an important part of me not looking to other people for acceptance - a big issue I had for a long time."
Alicia added that she simply doesn't have the time to pursue perfection.
She shared: "I just don't have the bandwidth - there's no time to pretend any more."
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