Emma Stone is "very grateful" she didn’t know she "had a disorder" during her childhood.
The ‘La La Land’ star began therapy after suffering her first panic attack aged seven and she was diagnosed with generalised anxiety and panic disorder, but the ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ star is glad she wasn’t aware of her condition because it could have harmed her chances of breaking into acting.
She said: "I am very grateful I didn’t know that I had a disorder. I wanted to be an actor and there weren’t a lot of actors who spoke about having panic attacks."
The 29-year-old actress went through a "really terrifying" ordeal during her childhood where she thought her friend’s house was burning down, and she later found it tough to go to her pal’s houses.
Speaking to psychiatrist Dr. Harold S. Koplewicz in a video on mental health non-profit Child Mind Institute’s YouTube page, she added: "After first grade before I went into second grade, I had my first panic attack. It was really, really terrifying and overwhelming.
"I was at a friend’s house, and all of a sudden I was convinced the house was on fire and it was burning down. I was just sitting in her bedroom and obviously the house wasn’t on fire, but there was nothing in me that didn’t think we were going to die.
"I couldn’t go to friends’ houses."
Emma recently admitted she feels "lucky" to have anxiety, because it makes her "high-energy".
She said: "I think your wiring is just kind of what you are. My mom always says that I was born with my nerves outside of my body. But I’m lucky for the anxiety, because it also makes me high-energy.
"I am sensitive on a level that is problematic. I mean, I’ve talked to my therapist about it before, and she’s like, Thank God you found [acting].
"I started acting in youth theatre when I was 11. But it’s weird when it becomes your job. And then there are other parts of it, like sitting here with the tape recorder in between us, that aren’t things that you think about when you’re a kid and it’s just like, ‘This is a safe, great place to feel a lot.’"
Emma Stone ‘grateful’ she didn’t know about childhood anxiety
