Peter Andre opens up about his social anxiety

Peter Andre surprised his Twitter followers when he opened up about his social anxiety recently.

He was inspired to speak out after watching Robbie Williams’ wife Ayda Field talk about similar issues during an episode of Loose Women.

“Watching LW and the topic is “is social anxiety making you dread party season?” I never thought I would admit it but like @robbiewilliams I too suffer the same thing,” he tweeted.

“Guess I tend to hide away sometimes and cancel social things. I don’t mean to. Random but I thought I’d tell you all. Thank you.” [sic].

Now the 43-year-old singer has elaborated in his column for New! Magazine.

“Robbie Williams spoke out about his battle with the same condition, which I’ve never been able to put a title on,” he explained.

“I’ve known Robbie for many years and I never knew it was a problem for him, so it made me understand him even more.”

“I never thought I’d admit to suffering from it, but there were times when I had to pull out of social engagements because I was too nervous.”

“It’s things like red carpet events that make me the most anxious… I think my issues stem form when I lived in Australia and was out on the party scene.

“I still find it hard to strike a balance because I love people and I love my job!’

Ayda had spoken candidly about 42-year-old Robbie’s anxiety issues on Loose Women during an appearance as a panelist back in November, explaining: “It gets difficult for him when he goes out people expect him to be charismatic and cheeky and show the tiger pants. That’s not always there in the tank. He’s quite shy.

“He’ll say yes to dinner plans with friends then the day comes and he’s like I don’t want to do it, he panics and his skin breaks out.

“There I am on the side looking at the empty chair… sometimes I just want my husband to be there.”