MANILA – For the first time, Julia Barretto opened up about suffering from anxiety attacks which started five years ago.

Speaking with her sister Claudia for the latter’s podcast, Barretto said her condition makes her feel so emotional just thinking about it.

“It’s such a sensitive topic. It’s like a part of me that absolutely nobody knows about… I do suffer from anxiety. It’s something that I have suffered with for five years now. I think there are certain things that hit it or trigger it. I don’t know it’s just one day you get it,” she said.

The actress also shared what she’s going through every time she gets anxiety attacks.

“When I get attacks, I can’t move. I can’t talk. I’m always just staring and I’m not aware anymore of what I’m doing or what others are doing. It’s like I am under this really, really dark cloud,” she said.

“People try to talk to me or talk me out of it. When they ask me what’s happening, it’s like my tongue can’t move. And it makes me so frustrated because you know when you’re trying to get a word out, even just one word, it won’t come out,” she added.

What makes it even harder, Barretto said, is when she suffers from anxiety while she is at work.

“When there’s so many people and I have to be at my best entertaining, but your body and mind is totally saying ‘You can’t do this right now,’ and you have to force yourself out of your attack, it’s so hard,” she said

“When I get an attack in front of so many people at work, what adds up to my anxiety is, in my head, ‘They won’t understand. They’ll think I’m like this. They’ll think I’m bad. They’ll think I’m not minding them.’ It adds up and it makes me feel so much worse,” she added.

While it happens to her frequently, Barretto has learned to consider it a process of getting to know herself more especially when she’s in that moment.

“I think I’ve grown a lot of awareness already of what happens to me when I’m getting an attack. I’ve seen a life coach, I’ve attended groups where they talk about anxiety and they teach you how to deal with it. You also have to help yourself try to find out what works for you,” she said.

Below is the video of the whole podcast below, where Barretto also talked about how she really feels when people are saying things that aren’t true about her. She also opened up about how this affects her, especially when her family is being dragged into the issue.

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