‘He’s brilliant’: Niall Horan praises Lewis Capaldi for being open about his struggles with mental health

Niall Horan has opened up about his friendship with Lewis Capaldi in an interview with Chris Evans.

The former One Direction singer praised Lewis, 26, from Glasgow, for opening up about his struggles with mental health while adding that it is “important” for his fans to understand.

Speaking to Virgin Radio, Niall said: “I just think it’s really important. Everyone sees him as this like as the funny man but you know, he’s got he’s got his issues, and he’s not afraid to talk about them.

“You know, think about his audiences hearing stuff like that it’s, it’s really important for. He’s brilliant.”

Lewis has been increasingly transparent about experiencing intense panic attacks and a shoulder twitch as a result of anxiety and his Tourette’s syndrome diagnosis.

On 20 April, fans in Chicago sang ‘Someone You Loved’ at Lewis’ concert, as he was unable to continue, when his Tourette’s took over.

Lewis and Niall’s friendship dates back to when Lewis was first starting out in the industry.

Niall said: “I had seen a couple of his videos that he put out very early on. It was him singing a couple of his songs and I just wrote to him and said, ‘I love what you’re doing. This is amazing. Good Luck’.”

“And then, I was playing a show in Glasgow and I just said, ‘If you fancy getting up and doing a few tunes before I go on tonight, you’re more than welcome’. And he came down, we met the day before, had a few pints and straightaway we clicked, you know it’s the Celtic thing.”

He joked that the gig was the start of a “romance” after Lewis sang beautifully.

Niall appeared at Lewis’ concert on 2 April with the pair going on to do BeReal on stage.

Lewis also posted a wholesome video on TikTok of clips of him and Niall to his new single ‘Wish You The Best.’ He captioned the video: “without you everything’s wrong x”.

Lewis’ new album ‘Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent’ will be released on 19 May.