In an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Trainor discussed needing vocal surgery after working too hard, and the resulting concerns that she might never sing again.
“I had vocal problems ’cause I was working too much, and I finally collapsed physically and emotionally. I had like a mental breakdown,” she said.
“And I had panic attacks, live on television with Gayle King. I was reading the nominees for the Grammys the year after I won, and I was shaking, and I was like, ‘Please don’t collapse on TV right now. We’re live.’
“As soon as they were like, ‘cut’, I fell and started scream-crying and couldn’t breathe. And later, they took me away. I was supposed to do more work, and they were like, ‘We’re done. This is it.’
“I can’t say who, but I had a lot of people tell me, ‘If you cancel on this 30-minute set, we’ll never play Meghan Trainor ever again.’ So I had everything. I had my Grammy, I had what people dream of for years, I had everything I ever wanted, and they were threatening to take it away.
“My mind was like, ‘No I’ll keep going, I’ll keep going.’ And my body was like, ‘Bye.’ My body had to tell me, instead of me being able to take a break … I was alone with my thoughts for way too long and I blew up – I freaked out.”
Trainor revealed she saw many doctors about her mental health struggle, and eventually saw a psychologist.
“Finally I went to a psychologist … And he gave me two medicines that I take every single day, and it saved me, saved my life.”
In another interview with People magazine, Trainor said she went to the emergency room a number of times thinking her throat was closing due to an allergic reaction, which doctors said were panic attacks.
“My doctors diagnosed me with panic disorder. They were like, ‘Your chemicals are way imbalanced — we have to get you back to normal,’” she said.
