The Wanted singer Nathan Sykes says autism diagnosis helped him ‘accept’ himself
By Lauren Del Fabbro, PA Entertainment Reporter
Former The Wanted singer Nathan Sykes has said his autism diagnosis has helped him “accept” himself.
The 32-year old is best known for being a part of the boy band behind the hit songs All Time Low and Glad You Came alongside Max George, Siva Kaneswaran, Jay McGuiness, and the late Tom Parker.
Speaking on Lorraine, Sykes opened up about his diagnosis, revealing that he struggles to understand emotional cues and is “absolutely amazing at masking”.
He said: “I think the diagnosis was a massive help in me understanding myself and being able to process that and and I think accept myself.
“For so long I’ve always felt that there’s a part of me that I didn’t quite understand and I’ve said no to so many opportunities because I didn’t know how I work in certain situations and I always felt quite unpredictable.
“I think with autism, everyone experiences it differently so everyone will react differently in different situations. It’s not one size fits all, but for me, I struggle to understand emotions and read emotional cues.”
Autism has been described by the National Autistic Society as a lifelong neurodivergence and disability which influences how people experience and interact with the world.
It often means autistic people will feel things and react to them differently including finding socialising confusing or tiring, feeling overwhelmed in loud or busy places, preferring order and routine or having intense interests.
Sykes added: “I have to kind of work slightly differently as a writer to be able to get the best out of me. But I think since the diagnosis, it’s allowed me to put myself in a position where I’m like: Oh, I can actually have conversations now and say yes to things that I wouldn’t have said yes to you before.
“I think one of the things that came up during my assessment is that I’m absolutely amazing at masking. So I’ve lived so long behind a front and a mask, and I’m very good at giving people what they expect me to give them.
“I’ll go above and beyond to please people sometimes, to my own detriment, but it’s great. Even in working environments I’m doing some tour dates next week in London and Manchester, and just making those small adjustments to make it a really safe space to work it allows me to work at my best.”
The comments come days after Sykes released his debut solo album, Ultraviolet, earlier last week.
The singer rose to fame after joining The Wanted in 2009 which went on to have two UK number one singles and four UK top 10 albums.
The group announced a hiatus in 2014 to pursue their own solo careers and reunited in 2021 for the first time in seven years to perform for Stand Up To Cancer, following Parker’s diagnosis with stage four glioblastoma.
The full band has not toured since Parker died in March 2022 at the age of 33. However, Kaneswaran and George returned to the stage as a duo to perform the group’s songs under the name, The Wanted 2.0.
