Niall Horan became a "recluse" at the height of his fame with One Direction.
The 29-year-old pop star shot to fame alongside Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, and Zayn Malik as part of the 'X Factor'-created group in 2010 and explained that in the following years when they became the world's first billion-dollar boy band, he ended up terrified to leave the house over the "shock" of it all.
He told The Sun newspaper's Bizarre column: "There were periods where you’d go out and you wouldn’t get five yards outside the door.
“I remember one time I stupidly went to Westfield (shopping mall), in West London, and honestly, swear to God, I was like, ‘I’m going to die in here. I’m never getting out’. It was the fear of that which kept me in.
“I probably became a bit of a recluse in 2012, 2013, 2014 . . . It was probably all in my head but I became a recluse because of the thought of going out, when I probably could have.
"There is a side of it where you’ve just come from zero to hero, the shock of it. It’s a shock to the system and you’re trying to live a normal life."
The 'Heaven' hitmaker has not performed with his bandmates since they went on hiatus in 2015 and even though he has pursued a successful career as a solo artist, admitted that these days he is able to run everyday errands in a way that was not possible during his days with One Direction.
He added: "Now I live the most normal life I could possibly live. I can go to the shops and buy my own dinner and just general stuff. There was a period where if someone said, ‘Do you want to grab a coffee?’ or ‘Do you want to go for lunch?’ I’d have said absolutely not."
