Craig David admits health battle saw him plummet into a 'dark place'
Singing sensation Craig David admitted his excessive exercise regime left him with a serious injury that effected his mental health as he believed life 'wasn't worth living'
Craig David became a pin-up for most women around the world during his hey day as an award winning music artist. And it wasn't just his catchy songs that earned him a legion of fans, his sculpted appearance also played a major part.
But now, it has emerged that his desperation to maintain a toned physique saw him develop an obsession with exercise which soon spiralled out of control. His intense work out regimes resulted in a serious back injury in 2017, leaving him on the brink of depression.
At the peak of his intense workouts, the 44 year old singer had only 4.5 per cent body fat.
According to the World Health Organisation a healthy body fat percentage for a man under 40 years old, which was his age at the time, is between eight and 20 per cent.
Even an athlete at the peak of their career would generally not have a body fat percentage less than six per cent.
In a recent interview, Craig said that his obsession had a major impact on his social life as it made him avoid seeing friends.
He told The Times: "I was cancelling going out with friends because I was like, 'Nah, I've got to do my cardio tonight.' What life was that? I'm not a body builder."
Craig then suffered an excruciating back injury in 2017 which left him depressed as he found himself unable to continue his workouts. The music star's injury "involved a degenerative disc."
Recalling his injury he told the publication: "My world was closing in. I needed to get rid of the pain and I went to a dark place where I thought, 'I don't think I'm going to make it.'"
Craig soon spiralled out of control and while he did not experience suicide thoughts, his depression made him feel as though he had nothing to live for.
He explained: "I never got to the point where I was thinking of ways to end this but I thought life wasn't worth living and I would be happier if I wasn't here any more."
The singer has now turned his life around and is practicing celibacy. The star has also written a book titled What's Your Vibe, which aims to dispel the myth that life as a celebrity is "glitzy and perfect."
He has also shared details of his battle with his body image when he appeared in the BBC documentary Imposter Syndrome. While appearing on the programme, he opened up on how he'd ended up experiencing body dysmorphia.
In the documentary, he said: "I was down to like 4.5% body fat and I'm still thinking, 'if I can just get it down that… which is a very, body-building, like, lifestyle.
"But now, sitting here, I feel like I had to go back to the little kid who is carrying a bit of weight, [who was] the shoulder to cry on and be like, 'you know what, you always had everything that you could have ever had wanted'. It was never about the body."
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