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Will Young sends message to Strictly Come Dancing contestants following surprise exit


will young
Ainhoa Barcelona
Content Managing Editor
October 15, 2016
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Will Young won’t be sharing the dance floor with his former Strictly Come Dancing pals this weekend, but the stars will be on his mind.

Ahead of the competition Will, who quit the show unexpectedly this week, wrote on Twitter: "All my love and luck to contestants tonight."

The singer also revealed that he was being harassed by a photographer as he tweeted: "The photographer following me in the park who said 'I get PTSD - so thanks so much for talking about it ' I think slightly was missing the point of hyper vigilance. As he clicked away in my FACE!!!! Hysterical!"

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will young main© Photo: PA

Will Young has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder

Will, 37, decided to leave Strictly for "personal reasons" insisting that there was nothing "dramatic" about his departure.

He was paired with professional dancer Karen Clifton, who recently set the record straight about the singer's exit, saying that she and Will had a "great time" on the show. Reports had claimed that the duo were at loggerheads over rehearsal times.

A few days after he made his announcement, Will also opened up about post-traumatic stress disorder, which he developed in 2012.

"PTSD is a thing I learned about because I got it, I had a breakdown, after my fifth album, called Echoes," he told London Live's London Real programme.

will young2© Photo: BBC

The singer quit Strictly earlier this week

"I went into theatre, did Cabaret for the first time, and then I got PTSD and got depersonalisation and derealisation, which is when your body can't cope with the flooding of emotions from the past, so it shuts down. I couldn't see my face in the mirror, I couldn't recognise places or family or friends."

While Will did not reveal if he had suffered a specific trauma that triggered PTSD, he has previously spoken about various events in his life that may have had an effect, including being bullied at school, being separated from his twin brother at birth and years of hiding his homosexuality.

He checked into Khiron House, a trauma centre in London, to seek help.

Will revealed: "It was my therapist that said 'I think you've got trauma.' If it wasn't for her I think I'd probably be on a cocktail of medication and probably would've killed myself."

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