Olivia Attwood opens up on battle with ADHD and crippling anxiety after Joss Stone called the condition ‘b*****ks’

GLAMOROUS Olivia Attwood may ooze confidence – but behind her beaming smile she is often plagued by crippling anxiety due to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. 

Now she has decided to speak out about her ADHD diagnosis after singer Joss Stone hit the headlines for calling the condition “b*****ks” on her podcast A Cuppa Happy. 

Olivia, 29, previously revealed to fans on Instagram that she takes antidepressants, or “happy pills” as she calls them, to help her cope. 

The former Love Islander says: “Five years ago I hit a really difficult time in my life. 

“My anxiety was through the roof, I had mild depression and I was struggling badly. I didn’t have any coping mechanisms and I didn’t see a way out.”

CHILDHOOD CONDITION

Singer Joss, 33, said on her podcast: “I kind of grow tired of hearing people go, ‘I’ve got anxiety, I’ve got depression’”, and she said drug companies give names to people’s feelings so they can make money.

Olivia adds: “For Joss Stone to disregard mental health conditions like that is careless and a really destructive thing to say. ADHD, depression and anxiety is not a myth.

“I feel for children, young adolescents and adults ­living with these things to have heard that.

“There are so many of us trying to come to terms with it already. Nobody needs to hear more negative things. 

“When I got my diagnosis it completely changed the way I live my life and ADHD is now something I have managed to take control of. 

“I understand what triggers me now, and ­others need to.

“And now I like to use my platform to talk about it, because there are so many ­people going through this, and not having the help I did.” 

Olivia, who is engaged to Blackburn Rovers footballer Bradley Dack, 26, was in primary school when she was diagnosed with ADHD but she assumed she would grow out of it. 

Symptoms are usually noticed in childhood and are diagnosed between the ages of six and 12. 

ADHD is a group of behavioural symptoms including hyperactivity, impulsiveness and inattentiveness.

Sufferers often have sleep and anxiety disorders too. 

Olivia says: “I was struggling academically and it got picked up then. But when I left school it got forgotten about. I thought it just affected children.

“I didn’t realise it could follow you into adult life. But when you live with it, and are not doing exercises to cope with it, subconsciously it gets to you, and all sorts of thoughts cross your mind.

“Someone with an ADHD brain is like a computer with too many tabs open, all the windows open at once, and you have 100 balls in the air.

“I sought help from a psychiatrist who questioned if I’d had an ADHD diagnosis. That’s when I discovered it can follow you into adult life. 

“I was unaware I was living with it, but we found it was the root of my anxiety and depression. Getting diagnosed again changed everything for me.”

Besides taking antidepressants daily, Olivia uses coping strategies such as list-writing, which helps to organise her thoughts. 

She says: “I think when you are at that low point, sometimes you need the bump to get you out of there. You need that chemical balance — no matter how much yoga or exercise you do, sometimes it doesn’t work.

“I call them happy pills, and they work with me — it’s nothing to be ashamed of. So why cause more stress, like not ­taking medication, because of what everyone else thinks?

“You can take medicine for any other illness, and the brain is the same, as long as you have gone through everything with a ­doctor.

“I think people would find it really hard to imagine that this might affect me as, from what they know about me from TV, I seem to be quite a hard person. 

“But it’s still a struggle. The doctor that I see has educated me a lot, and once I understood ADHD it made so much sense. 

“I avoid caffeine, alcohol, overpacking my schedule and lack of sleep, as these all trigger it.”

Olivia, who has 1.8million Instagram followers, adds: “Unfortunately, the results of modern living can cause mental health issues. Things like social media need to be approached carefully. There is always a thin line between people loving or hating you on it. 

“And when I have been on TV shows and I feel like the full story hasn’t been portrayed, the viewers take to Twitter to talk about me. It’s not nice and I am human. 

“But I don’t let the trolls faze me. I think I have got hardened skin for it. And I definitely don’t let it get to me when they comment on my appearance. I couldn’t care less about that.

“I feel like if I had all of this five years ago when I was in a bad way, I would have really not been able to handle it. But now I don’t care — I am happy with myself mentally, and can look past things.

“I know the person who is writing to me saying I’m too skinny is the same person who is writing to someone else saying they are too fat. I just remind myself of that.”

As for cosmetic surgery, Olivia has had two boob jobs as well as Botox and fillers. 

She says: “I had my boobs done before Love Island, quite cheaply, and I had problems, so when I came out of Love Island I knew I needed a second boob job to ­correct the issues.

“But I’d learned my lesson that cheap is cheap, and you get what you pay for, so I ended up going to a surgeon where I spent a huge amount and I thought, ‘What am I doing? I could just get this for free.’ 

“But if anyone is giving something away, you have to question why. You’re not meant to offer medical things in exchange for promotion, even Botox. It’s not really allowed. 

“A lot of the people in the industry have free surgeries and the ones that go bad, you don’t even hear about, because they tie themselves into deals where you’re not allowed to run down the clinic. 

“I am glad I didn’t get sucked in. I spent a fortune on my second boob job but at least I got it right.”

Lockdown was tough for Olivia, but she and Brad are stronger than ever. Three years after she appeared on Love Island, she has bagged her own ITVBe show, Meets Her Match, which airs later this year and follows her life in Manchester as she plans her wedding. 

She says: “Brad’s a good lockdown partner but I don’t know if he would say the same for me.

“But we’ve been having loads of fun together, and planning a wedding for 2022. And I can’t wait for it.”

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