Elizabeth Olsen feared she would drop dead aged 21 after suffering panic attacks

Marvel actress Elizabeth Olsen has spoken out about crippling panic attacks that left her thinking she was going to 'drop dead' while experiencing them.

Olsen, 33, said she had suffered from panic attacks 'on the hour every hour' when she had been living in New York at the age of 21.

At the time, she had no idea what anxiety or a panic attack was, telling Variety that she thought they could even be fatal.

London Entertainment/Alamy Stock Photo

“I remember I would get them on the hour every hour. I used to live on 13th Street between Sixth and Seventh. I was crossing Sixth Avenue at 14th Street, and I realized I couldn’t cross the street – I stood up against the wall, and I just thought I was going to drop dead at any moment,” she said.

“If I went from cold to hot, hot to cold, full to hungry, hungry to full – any kind of shift in my body, my whole body thought, ‘Uh oh, something’s wrong!’ And I just started spiralling.

“It was so weird. An ENT doctor said that it could be vertigo related because it was all about truly spinning. So it was an interesting six months.”

Xinhua/Alamy Stock Photo

Olsen spoke about how she managed to control her episodes of panic, using different techniques to help quell the 'spiralling thoughts'.

"It actually was very similar to an acting exercise that we did at Atlantic, which is called repetition, where you just are constantly making observations about the person in front of you and you’re just trying to connect," she said.

“When I would walk down the street, I would just start naming everything I saw out loud to get myself out of the spiralling thoughts in my brain. That was a helpful tool. But it just became a practice that got me out of it... It’s very weird because I was not an anxious child. I was very loud and confident."

The WandaVision star also explained that she carried medication with her, in case she needed it.

WENN Rights Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo

The actress – who is the sister of Olsen twins Mary-Kate and Ashley – is set to star in a new true crime HBO Max series next year, Love & Death, which is based on a true story.

If you're struggling with anxiety, panic attacks or other mental health issues, you can find support at mental health charity, Mind

Topics: Celebrity, Health

Lucy Devine

Lucy is a journalist working for Tyla. After graduating with a master's degree in journalism, she has worked in both print and online and is particularly interested in fashion, food, health and women's issues. Northerner, coffee addict, says hun a lot.

@lucedevine