Craig David's desperation for the perfect body once left him with a workout regime so brutal that he'd cancel plans with friends to schedule extra sessions at the gym. Once bullied as a child for being "overweight", he ended up with rippling muscles and a six-pack - but his addiction to exercise also eventually left him with just 4.5% body fat.

According to the World Health Organisation, a healthy body fat percentage for a man under 40 (Craig's age group at the time) is 8% to 20%, while even an athlete's bodyfat would not be expected to be lower than 6%. He recalled later how he all too often chose "aesthetics" over health and happiness, admitting: "I was cancelling going out with friends because I was like, 'Nah, I've got to do my cardio tonight.' What life was that? I'm not a body builder." He then developed a back injury so intensely painful that it put him out of action altogether.

The 2017 disaster, which involved a degenerative disc, was the most painful moment he'd ever experienced - and he sunk into depression.

Talking candidly to The Times about his horror injury, he admitted: "My world was closing in. I needed to get rid of the pain and I went to a dark place where I thought, 'I don't think I'm going to make it.'"

"I never got to the point where I was thinking of ways to end this but I thought life wasn't worth living and I would be happier if I wasn't here any more."

The platinum-selling singer revealed that he'd "never" been fully happy with his physical appearance, despite extensive workouts - and things culminated in his bout of pain, one so severe he couldn't move at all anymore.

Meanwhile, the man who'd talked about having sex every day of the week in his track Seven Days has since chosen a life of cellibacy in the hope of "healing" from his body image issues and the pressure to perform.

He's also written a searingly honest book, What's Your Vibe?, in a bid to shatter the illusion that life as a celebrity is automatically "glitzy and perfect".

He opened up further on his body image battles when he appeared in the BBC documentary series Imposter Syndrome and spoke about how he'd ended up experiencing body dysmorphia.

Craig subsequently told ITV that he felt he'd captured a moment when he was "shining positivity out into the world" but, paradoxically, secretly "suffering and dealing with depression" at the same time.