Pop singer Anastacia has said she feared she had a brain tumour until further health checks showed her symptoms were related to menopause.
The I’m Outta Love singer, 55, was self-diagnosing and had “no idea” that her symptoms, which included exhaustion and brain fog, were “hormone-related”.
Speaking to Kate Thornton on the White Wine Question Time podcast, she said: “I didn’t even realise I was going through such hell that it was caused by menopause.
“I didn’t know my exhaustion; I didn’t know my brain fog. I didn’t know all the things – I just thought I was tired. (…) I was diagnosing myself, but had no idea any of this was hormone-related.
“I guess I was waiting for that ball to drop. My ball was, I thought I had a brain tumour and life was going horrible, and I was really, really scared.
“When I got all of these other things checked out, this guy in Switzerland was like, I think you’re going through some hormone stuff.
“I told him, ‘It doesn’t feel anything like that, I have hot flashes and I’m OK with that’.
“In my head, I had no idea the things I was going through were actually in the list (of symptoms of menopause) because it’s a long list.”
According to the NHS website, symptoms of menopause include hot flushes, difficulty sleeping, heart palpitations, headaches, migraines and muscle aches.
The American singer has spoken about her health previously and in 2013 she revealed that she had undergone a double mastectomy after being diagnosed with cancer for the second time.
The singer, who was a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing in 2016, also spoke about her fanbase and was asked by Thornton what it is like to be more recognisable in Europe.
Anastacia said she wanted to be more well known in the US at the beginning of her career and revealed that she turned to U2 star Bono and pop superstar Beyonce for advice on how to navigate fame.
She said: “I talked to Bono and Beyonce, and they said, ‘I would wish for a country that I could just roll around in, especially as big as America is, and go under the radar’.”
Kate Thornton’s White Wine Question Time is available to listen to on all podcast platforms.