Will Young was warned he was "risking" his career if he pulled out of appearing on 'Strictly Come Dancing'.
Will Young on Strictly Come Dancing
The 'Leave Right Now' hitmaker experienced "a lot of nastiness" when he quit the dance contest after just three weeks in 2016 but admitted he shouldn't have gone ahead with the show at all because he was "very ill" with mental health issues.
He told Event magazine: "I was just very ill. There's no way I should've been doing that show. I tried to back out of it actually. Then got persuaded back by being told, 'Will the BBC want to work with you? You're risking a lot.'
"So I did it, but with panic attacks the whole time. I would keep going out for a cigarette and think, 'I don't really want to be here.' Then I thought, 'I don't have to be here', so I left."
And the 40-year-old star is pleased he made the decision, despite the backlash he experienced.
He said: "It was so liberating, the best thing I ever did. You've only got one life."
Will previously admitted he was so desperate to get out of 'Strictly', he looked into how he could get his legs broken so that he'd be unable to dance.
He said: "Mental illness is mental illness. I was unwell. In the weeks leading up to Strictly, all I could think about was how could I get out of doing the show. I knew I didn't have the strength, that I wasn't in the right place and that I would do myself real damage. I actually looked into the easiest way to break my legs so I couldn't dance. That's how bad it was."
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