Bastille frontman Dan Smith has body dysmorphia.
The ‘Pompeii’ hitmaker has reflected on how he was a “pretty heavy kid” and even though he shed “a load of weight” while at university, he still feels self-conscious and “awkward” about the way he looks.
Speaking to the first issue of Rolling Stone UK magazine, he said: “I think I was a pretty shy teenager, and I was a pretty heavy kid, too. In the summer of my third year of university, I ended up unintentionally losing a load of weight.
“I think I went from about 17st to 11st over a really short period, which was a pretty massive physical transformation. I’d always been a large kid and then a larger young adult, so that was stitched into my identity and how I saw myself. In a weird way, it’s still how I see myself because those were my formative years.
“So even after losing a lot of weight, I’ve always been self-conscious and awkward about how I look. I’ve not ever articulated this publicly and I think I’ve just carried that kind of self-consciousness with me. I guess I probably have a level of body dysmorphia.”
Dan admitted his insecurity stopped Bastille from appearing on TV and he even turned down the chance to be a judge on ‘The X Factor’.
He said: “Getting in front of the camera to do the things you do in a band has often felt odd and unnatural to me. We didn’t do any television ever.
“I was turning down a lot of interviews and panel shows, being a judge on ‘The X Factor’ and all these things that I just didn’t want to do. They were all amazing offers, but it wasn’t what I ever wanted out of this.”
Meanwhile, the ‘Thelma + Louise’ singer admitted the group’s fourth album is heavily influenced by movies, including ‘Blade Runner’, ‘The Matrix’, and ‘Total Recall’.
He said: “I started writing all these songs inspired by film worlds I’d want to be in, as well as fictional narratives I’d want to escape to.”