Tom Grennan has undergone some pretty intense surgery to remove metal plates from his jaw.
The 30-year-old singer was hospitalised at the age of 18 after being attacked by a group of strangers in his hometown of Bedford.
As a result, he needed to have screws and metal plates fitted to his jaw to fix his injuries.
However, the plates recently started to cause complications, so he underwent another operation earlier this year to have them taken out.
He told The Times newspaper: ‘They were pushing themselves out of my gums … [Having surgery] was a relief for me. I’m no longer reminded of that time in my life.
‘It was like I closed the door, and that was me being released, I suppose.’
During the interview, Tom admitted the attack left him with lasting physical and mental injuries, and it took him years to recover.
‘I think that was the first time my world came crashing down, the first time I really knew what it was like to be depressed, to feel suicidal, like nobody loved me.
‘From one little thing that somebody did. One punch caused an earthquake, a tsunami. It took me years to open up.’
However, he credited the trauma from the attack with leading him to embrace songwriting and kickstart his creativity.
‘The attack was horrible, but it allowed me to open up another part of my mind. I’d never written a song before it,’ he revealed.
As well as having surgery on his jaw this year, Tom also went under the knife to fix a tendon injury, and he recently admitted the recovery process has been tough as he battled anxiety issues.
Tom told MailOnline last month: ‘I’m a person like everybody who suffers with anxiety and mental health.
‘I’ve got a bad ankle; I’ve had to have an operation to get a tendon rebuilt, so I was in a boot for eight weeks. It’s not good; it’s a long recovery.
‘So we’ll see what I can do. I’m going to have to get it strapped up—I’m still not comfortable with it. I think that’s where a lot of my anxiousness over the past few months has come from.’
The Little Bit of Love hitmaker has long spoken openly about his mental health.
In conversation with Roman Kemp for mental health charity YoungMinds last year, Tom reflected on feeling like he was in a ‘sinking hole’ when he was younger.
‘I couldn’t get out of bed,’ he admitted. ‘I thought the whole world was against me. I thought I wasn’t good enough. I never had been somebody who would talk about my feelings, especially to my friends and not to my parents, either.
‘So then I started to just write little notes in a notepad and then picked up a guitar.’
As he began processing his own emotions, it also allowed Tom to open up to his mum and form a deeper connection with her.
The star first found fame as the guest vocalist on Chase & Status’s All Goes Wrong in 2016 and has gone on to become a huge presence in the UK music scene.
Tom released his debut album in 2018, which peaked at number five in the charts, before his next two records both hit number one.
Later this year, he’ll embark on his biggest ever tour, playing in arenas across the country.
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