AFL star Bailey Smith reveals mental health battle and says he's suffered panic attacks from an early age By Mary Mrad For Daily Mail Australia Published: 23:10 BST, 13 October 2021 | Updated: 23:10 BST, 13 October 2021 Viewcomments AFL star Bailey Smith has revealed his battle with mental health. The Western Bulldogs player said he's suffered panic attacks from an early age on the Common Chaos podcast. 'I started taking medication, that's something I didn't do for such a long time because I didn't want to be weak,' Bailey, 20, told hosts Cartia Mallan and Ashton Wood. Candid: AFL star Bailey Smith (pictured) has opened up about his mental health battle 'I just had this weird thing in my head where I wanted to do it myself and it'd be so much more rewarding if I get through it and I don't need medication.' Bailey added: 'I bit the bullet and understood and accepted that I wasn't right at the time, I wasn't well.' 'It opened up so many doors for me, in terms of school, my education went through the roof and then football.' Mental health battle: The Western Bulldogs star revealed he's suffered panic attacks from an early age on the Common Chaos podcast During the interview, he also spoke out about the darker side of his meteoric rise to fame. The Western Bulldogs star said that was bizarrely offered '$50,000' to sleep with a man he'd never met after the stranger got hold of his phone number. The crude offer came just weeks after Bailey had to debunk a fake nude photograph of himself that went viral on the day of the AFL grand final. 'I stopped looking at (my DMs) two weeks ago.... I'm even getting these now - I don't know how they got my number,' he said. Leak: During the interview, he also spoke out about the darker side of his meteoric rise to fame. The Western Bulldogs star said that was bizarrely offered '$50,000' to sleep with a man he'd never met after the stranger got hold of his phone number 'Sends a screenshot of his bank account - $50,000 to sleep with this person. It doesn't stop going.' He then spoke about the fake nude photo leak, which he proved had been doctored after posting the original to his Facebook account. 'There was a fake nude of me that got shared around Australia,' he added. 'This was like the day of the grand final, the biggest game of my life, and the boys showed me. 'They knew it was Photoshopped… it was weird. It got sent around to everyone while I was playing and then I addressed it after.' Fake: Leak: The offer came after a fake nude photo of the 20-year-old was leaked online. Bailey later confirmed the image was doctored, and had been created using this shirtless picture Read more: Share or comment on this article: All rights reserved for this news site (dailymail) and under his responsibility