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Luke Combs Tells Dan Rather About His OCD

Luke Combs opens up to Dan Rather about having anxiety and obsessive thoughts in a new installment of The Big Interview With Dan Rather. Luke tells Dan, “It’s something that…

Luke Combs Tells Dan Rather About His OCD
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Luke Combs opens up to Dan Rather about having anxiety and obsessive thoughts in a new installment of The Big Interview With Dan Rather.

Luke tells Dan, "It's something that I always struggled with, and always affected me. The first time I can remember is probably middle school up to the end of college, and I still have my moments here and there."

Combs says he lives with a lesser-known form of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) known as Purely Obsessional OCD, which is marked by intrusive, distressing thoughts that come in waves.

He explains, "Essentially, my version of messing with the blinds or straightening the carpet are thoughts that I play over and over in my head. [For example,] it'll be something about my health. I'll be worried that I'm ... about to have a heart attack, or a stroke. It becomes this very obsessive thing that you literally can never have an answer to."

Luke said the key to taking control of his anxiety has been in arming himself with knowledge. He said, "You have to teach yourself to be comfortable with the fact that you will never get an answer, and that it is a super uncertain thing. That's what I particularly have struggled with. Sometimes that's tough, but it's something that you learn about yourself."

The Big Interview With Dan Rather airs on Wednesday (Jan. 13) at 8PM ET on AXS TV.

Luke Combs

Nancy Brooks has been working in the country music industry for almost 30 years. She has interviewed pretty much any country star you can think of. In the late 1990s, she started working with Dolly Parton. And yes, Nancy reports that Parton is as sweet as you would think. She loves her life in country music and has been backstage at every CMA Awards show since the late 1990s. Many of her stories are from her one-on-one interviews. She was there at the beginning of the incredible careers of many music superstars today, including Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, and Blake Shelton, and has interviewed them multiple times throughout the years.