Arts & Entertainment

Sam Smith says he’s given up alcohol for his mental health

the singer revealed he’s struggled with severe anxiety the past few months

Published

8 years ago

April 4, 2018

Mariah Cooper

Sam Smith (Photo courtesy of Instagram)

Sam Smith is currently on tour in promotion of his second studio album, “The Thrill of It All,” but his success has come with a price.

In an interview with The Sun, the 25-year-old revealed that he has been suffering from anxiety the past few months.

“I get massive anxiety. I really struggle. I was so nervous at the Grammys this year,” Smith says. “I thought I would be more in control of my body and emotions but I get so nervous, to the point I’m almost having panic attacks.

“Sometimes I need people who I love around me to tell me, ‘Pull yourself together, you’re being a drama queen – it’s too much now, Sam, so rein it in,” he continued.

Smith explained that his anxiety became a big problem in December but he has since taken up meditation and given up alcohol.

“My anxiety levels and mental health went through a shaky period at Christmas,” Smith says. “But I’ve started meditating now, I am not drinking, I am trying to look after my mental health.”

He says that with his recent success he found himself drinking a lot. Now, he’s realized staying sober is better for his mental health.

“I was going out drinking way too much. Of course, you want to celebrate that these amazing things have happened but you can’t celebrate all the time,” he explains. “I’ve been completely off the booze for three weeks now. I never want to make promises but being sober is something I’m interested in. When I don’t drink and I’m not smoking cigarettes, when I’m completely clean, I feel so focused and happy.”

Smith says not drinking has improved his life so much that he thinks he will stay sober for the rest of the year.

“I don’t see myself drinking for the rest of the year because of the tour. I am more fun when off the booze — it’s nice. I am enjoying it now and we will see how it goes,” Smith says.

Recently, Smith has become more open about his personal life. He and “13 Reasons Why” star Brandon Flynn went public with their relationship in December.

Books

New book reveals what we can learn from animal sex

‘Poking the Squid’ on homosexuality, gender swapping, and more

Published

8 hours ago

July 13, 2026

Terri Schlichenmeyer

(Book cover image courtesy W.W. Norton)

‘Poking the Squid: What We Can Learn from Animal Sex’
By Perrin Roosevelt Ireland
c.2026, W.W. Norton
$29.99 241 pages

Birds do it.

According to Cole Porter, bees do, too, but it’s not exactly what he imagined. Wild and tame, avians, insects, and mammals all have sex – although not always as you’ve been told or for reasons you might think. Even educated fleas do it and, as in the new book, “Poking the Squid” by Perrin Roosevelt Ireland, humans can learn from them all.

If you read through scientific papers on animal reproduction, you might notice something unusual: for scientists, the word “sex” means a lot of different things.

Says Ireland, “It’s used to describe behaviors, biology, life histories, and more.”

That might be because animals are not simply binary.

Take, for instance, hyenas. It’s easy for the casual observer to mistake a male hyena for a female and vice versa because of stereotypes of anatomy. Mating, for hyenas, requires subordination for the male and a nifty trick on the part of the female’s body to get things done.

Our feathered friends are no birdbrains, either: black-browed albatrosses were once thought to be monogamous but global warming seems to have changed their nesting habits sometimes. Male flamingos have sex with one another, as a territorial thing; other birds and animals form same-sex pairs for other reasons.

The Chinese mantis eats her mate after fertilization. Female snakes, alpacas, guinea pigs, and monkeys are anatomically able to enjoy sex. Genitalia between species varies quite a bit; in fact, the vaginas of ducks “are highly complex.” Lionesses will mate up to 100 times when in heat. Female damselflies will change into a “third sex” to avoid overly aggressive mating males. Bearded dragons can change their sex, if needed, as can yellow clown goby fish. And seahorse pregnancy and birth sparked a book banning in Tennessee.

So, asks Ireland, if animals, including us, vary so much in biology and life, “… why are we using the word sex like it means something, anything, consistent?!”

Pick up “Poking the Squid,” page through it a few seconds, and you’ll see that the information here is largely told through cartoon-like drawings mixed with captions. It seems to be something on the lighter side, but don’t let that artwork fool you.

Author Perrin Roosevelt Ireland offers readers solid information that cozies up to the scholarly, with hard science, philosophy, feminism, and quotations from researchers to support it, thus furthering the narrative and hitting the points squarely. If you see the art and expect something lighthearted, comic, and small-talk-worthy, you could be disappointed.

On the other hand, if you want solid, wryly serious facts, you’re in for a treat.

There’s lots of learning to be gleaned here, and some slight nudge-wink whimsy to emphasize the absurdity of wrong-headed thinking. This can make readers feel like they’re in-the-know on the jokes, and the playfulness balances the seriousness of the information well.

So, serious, scholarly, or slightly silly, none of these are negative but you’re going to know what you want from a book like this. For the right reader, someone in the mood, “Poking the Squid” is wild.

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