Popstar Olly Murs has revealed that he feared for his career after the pressures of fame and presenting The Xtra Factor became too much.
Olly was a guest on today’s The Alan Titchmarsh Show, and he admitted there is pressure in the music industry for artists to become ‘products’ and work nonstop.
He said: “I had two jobs starting last year. I had my new album coming out, obviously new singles. I was really excited about that. And then I took The Xtra Factor job, so I had these two jobs. I’d never done TV work before and it was the first time, it’s live TV and presenting in front of an audience – I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’ve never done this before’.
“I was so nervous. I thought to myself I’m doing really well on my music, and for some reason it played on my mind so much I thought if this goes wrong it’s going to make all my music suffer and I’m going to lose pretty much both careers and it could be over for me. And I think I got all this anxiety and I started worrying and I was getting really nervous about it and I think it just really affected me. So I was turning up to TV shows and I couldn’t find myself, my personality.
“You know what it’s like, we all like a drink here and there. I had a couple of glasses of wine or a beer or two, and I thought, ‘I feel alright now’, which is what happens. I found my confidence again to talk and have a laugh.
“I think it’s you become more of a product than a human being, and that’s kind of I think sometimes where the line is. Obviously I am a human being, I’m not a machine, I can’t work every day.”
Olly recently revealed that the will not be returning to The Xtra Factor. Rylan Clark will be replacing him on the show.