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Ari Lennox said in order to protect her mental health, she can no longer take flights. On her Instagram Story, the “Pressure” singer announced that if the location of a performance requires her to board an airplane, she won’t be going.
“For my mental health and my sanity I will not be doing any shows that require me to fly,” she said. “I can not keep torturing myself with this huge fear of mine. It is literally destroying my health. Enough is enough. I’m so sorry to all that are inconvenienced by this. Don’t know what this will mean for my career, but I just can’t do it.”
Ari Lennox actually shared this message while she was aboard a flight to Minneapolis for a show. She also asked for a referral for mental health services to help her cope with this fear.
“If there’s any peers or anyone out there who knows of a great hypnotherapist, therapist and/or fear of flying solutions, I would be so grateful. I want to beat this,” she added.
What Lennox is dealing with is called aerophobia and affects over 25 million people in the United States, according to the Cleveland Clinic. People who struggle with this worry about the plane taking off, landing and getting locked on a plane.
The Washington, D.C native has been open about her battle with anxiety. Her song “Static” is actually a letter to the mental illness.
“I’ve been struggling with anxiety since the summer before my senior year, a lot of in the hospital,” she told WNYC. “And that feeling of the world closing in just never really stopped. So ‘Static’ is like me basically talking about how you’re in control. Like, even when I feel like I’m not, I am in control. And I will get this panic attack in order. Like, it’ll subside. So…”
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