Natalie Imbruglia, 51, reveals she has been diagnosed with ADHD and OCD as she recalls going to 'very dark places' and says perimenopause made her 'really angry'

Natalie Imbruglia has revealed she has been diagnosed with ADHD and OCD as she recalled going to 'very dark places' in a candid new interview.

The singer, 51, - best known for her smash hit Torn - also opened up about how perimenopause made her 'really angry' while discussing her mental health struggles.

She explained how she was diagnosed with both OCD and ADHD in midlife but doesn't see it as a negative.

Natalie is set to release her sixth album titled Algorithm in September and has several festival appearances this summer - but she says her neurodiversity makes her very nervous before shows.

She said of her various mental health struggles: 'You name it, there's a sprinkle of it. They're just labels. It's not a negative, it's my superpower. 

'But there's a particular thing about my neurodiversity that's hard for me to accept, which is how I get when I'm nervous before a show. Perimenopause made it worse.'

Natalie added to The Sunday Times of her perimenopause struggles: 'Let's just say it was a grieving process. I was really angry. I fell off a cliff. It felt like someone had taken some of my personality.'

She went on to explain that she talked to menopause campaigner Davina McCall about her experiences which helped a lot as she battled 'anger and anxiety'.

Natalie ended up managing her symptoms with HRT creams and said she was glad it is becoming less of a 'shameful or taboo' subject now.

Perimenopause is the transition to menopause when hormone levels decline and symptoms like hot flashes and irregular periods start. 

It comes after last month Natalie furiously hit back at claims she chose solo motherhood over being with a man after welcoming her first child aged 44. 

The hitmaker welcomed her son Max back in 2019 after undergoing IVF with a sperm donor. 

And in the latest episode of How To Fail with Elizabeth Day, the mother-of-one said she was 'really upset' by the assumptions but her 'biological clock' was ticking and she was forced to be a solo parent. 

She explained: 'I think it's really interesting that people frame it or they did with me that somehow I'd chosen this over being with a man. 

'And for all the men out there, that's absolute rubbish. Like it wasn't some kind of 'I don't need a man or you know women can do this and not have a man in their life.'

'It really upset me... because that was not the case. We just find ourselves in a situation where there's a biological clock and you know a decision needs to be made.

'Thank God for medicine that we're able to have that option because women before us didn't have that option. 

'So yeah, just wanted to say that for the men because it makes me really sad that that's just really not fair on men to say that it was a choice like that.'

Elsewhere in the conversation, Natalie said her IVF experience was 'pretty brutal' as she advised women to make sure they are well informed of the process. 

She said: 'What I will say is that it's really important to educate yourself and to ask a lot of questions and for women to share. 

'There's a lot that I didn't know or understand about that process and there's a lot of trauma involved along the process of learning things that someone could have told me.'

Referring to the two week waiting process between the embryos being implanted and finding out if she was pregnant, Natalie said: 'In fact, I remember when I found out I was pregnant, the one thing in my mind was every woman on the planet who was still waiting.

'Oh, that makes me emotional thinking about it'. 

Discussing the hormones you are put on, Natalie continued: 'It's also the in between is the hard bit. 

'It's the freefall that they don't prepare you for. They don't kind of wean you off of it. It's just like sorry, it didn't work and then stop. 

'And you've got this whole period of time that you have to pull yourself together. And they don't really speak about that. I don't think you're mentally prepared for that.'

Elizabeth added: 'And the two week wait that you have before finding out is pretty tough. It's the longest time you'll ever experience.'

Warning that there is a lot doctors won't tell you, Natalie advised: 'I think I would just say make sure you are really well informed and that you talk to women who've been through it because there is a lot that the doctors won't tell you and don't go through it on your own. 

'Have some really good friends that you can call and who can help you through it because it can be quite lonely, can't it?'

Rising to fame as Beth in Neighbours in the early nineties she kissed goodbye to her onscreen surfer husband Brad Willis to launch a singing career in 1997.

The album Left Of The Middle sold seven million copies and her single Torn became an instant hit.

Other albums followed although they weren't as commercially successful as her first.

In 2015, she made a comeback with the album Male, featuring cover versions of songs made famous by male lead singers, which reached number 20 in the UK album charts.

She made her film debut in the 2003 film Johnny English, alongside Rowan Atkinson.

The singer has since appeared in films Closed for Winter, Underdogs, and Among Ravens as well as continuing her music career.