Ashley Roberts reveals terrifying health scare that saw her 'body shut down' as she details decades long battle with insomnia in candid podcast
However behind the scenes Ashely Roberts has paid the price for trying to keep up with the high energy performances and intense schedule.
Speaking candidly on Paul Brunson's podcast We Need To Talk the singer, 43, reflected on a terrifying health scare she experienced during her time in the band and her decades long battle with insomnia.
She confessed: 'When I my body started shutting down, I thought ok it is time to take a pause.'
Explaining how ill she got, the star admitted health professionals feared she had a brain aneurysm after a severe bout of sickness and headaches.
'We were in London doing a gig and I was sick and I was like "Ok I'm just ill, you know, probably caught something."
'I was vomiting and had extreme headaches and I'm thinking "This it isn't getting any better and we I need to get on a flight to Germany."
'I ended up going to the hospital and they said "We think you are having a brain aneurysm. So we need you to chill," and I was like "Well I need to get on a plane."
'Then as I am walking to the MRI my knee locks up and turns out I had viral arthritis, I didn't even know this was a thing. So I couldn't bend my knee.'
She continued: 'My body was just like stop. I was having some kind of reaction to a virus that I had caught. But I was like the show must go on.'
After leaving the group Ashley's health took another knock which she believes to have been caused by intense stress.
The star explained: 'There was a literal physical manifestation of stored emotion in my body that has to come somewhere right?
'Unless you have got some sort of release the body is going to try and get it out and I feel like that's what my body was trying to do.
'I had eczema all over my legs, I had a stomach ulcer, I had shingles on my chin. I think stress was at the root from a young age and I was lucky to have performing and dance as an outlet but I think my body had been used to holding stress in.'
Later in the interview Ashley also opened up about her decades long battle with insomnia, as she admitted she began 'chugging' Nyquil (the US equivalent of Night Nurse) at just 14 years old.
She began: 'NyQuil was my little bedside friend. I was coping, I didn't know what to do and I was not sleeping. I was like 14.
'Yeah I was putting a lot of pressure on myself for a choreographer that was coming into town. I wanted to show up and be the best I could be and I was so anxious I didn't sleep.
'Then I was so anxious the next night about not sleeping and then that happened for a few nights in a row and I thought I was going out of my mind.
'So I was just chugging that [NyQuil] every few hours to get myself through the night to get some sleep.'
She continued: 'It became the norm because I was nervous if I didn't sleep I wouldn't be able to show up as myself and have the brain capacity to operate through school, work and dance.
'I was nervous that my mental health wouldn't be stable, probably counter productive but at the time I just thought "Sleep is important I need to sleep".'
Ashley later began taking Xanax as she added: 'I started taking Xanax which was very helpful for many decades of my life.
'I had sleep issues since I was 14 and I didn't really know how to handle it and I just knew that this would knock me out for a few hours so I could get sleep.'
Yet now Ashley explained that through routine she has managed to find stability as she credited her Heart Breakfast Show for helping her find balance.
'The structure, the stability and the routine has been a game changer and I have been able to teach my body to have that kind of rhythm.
'But that has taken time and I still don't have the perfect balance.'
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