Actress Emma Stone talked with Dr. Harold Koplewicz, head of the Child Mind Institute, about her difficulties with anxiety and panic attacks and how performing saved her life to raise awareness for children’s mental health.

Stone has been outspoken about her anxiety struggles — and campaigning for people who suffer from the same problems — for years. The actress has previously hinted at experiencing panic attacks, but according to Glamour, Stone recently recounted her first one, which occurred when she was seven years old. She detailed her experience at a recent panel discussion on mental health disorders and the societal stigma they frequently entail.

Emma Stone has no doubt established herself as one of Hollywood’s brightest stars, with an Oscar on her mantel and a familiar charm that nearly ensures box-office success. However, she wasn’t always aware of this potential. In truth, she suffered from debilitating anxiety as a child, which prevented her from even leaving the house, let alone achieving her ambitious goals.

The Oscar winner admitted that she felt she was going to pass away.

“After first grade, before I went into second grade, I had my first panic attack,” Stone said. “It was really, really terrifying and overwhelming.”

“I was at a friend’s house, and all of a sudden I was convinced the house was on fire and it was burning down. I was just sitting in her bedroom and obviously the house wasn’t on fire, but there was nothing in me that didn’t think we were going to die. So I called my mom and — it was panic, but of course I didn’t know that — she came and picked me up. And then it just kept going for the next two years”

During second grade, Stone went to the school nurse every day, wringing her hands and explaining that she was unwell and wanted to go home.

Anxiety (and panic attacks) can look and feel extremely different from person to person, but Stone hit on a prevalent feature in panic attacks in her recounting: the sense that you’ve suddenly lost all control. She said, “My anxiety had gotten to the point where I didn’t feel comfortable going to my friends’ houses at all.”

Stone’s mother, Krista, and brother, Spencer, stood in the audience for moral support while she revealed details of her early experiences with panic — and, unsurprisingly, Stone frequently looked to her mother to confirm information about events that occurred when she was younger. She laughed as she stated, “I’m talking about anxiety on a big stage; I’m terrified. Let me look at my mom!”

Stone began visiting a therapist shortly after the panic episode, and the therapist informed the little girl’s mother that she had generalized anxiety disorder. Stone’s mother, on the other hand, kept the diagnosis from her daughter, which the actress appreciated.

She explained: “They gave her a name for what I was experiencing but she didn’t tell me, which I’m also grateful for. I didn’t know I had generalized anxiety disorder or a version of panic disorder. I’m very grateful I didn’t know that I had a disorder so to speak…there weren’t a lot of people that I could look at. I wanted to be an actor and there weren’t a lot of actors that spoke about having panic attacks.”

Stone learned to handle her anxiety as she grew older, with the support of her family and counseling (she has previously stated that she no longer suffers from panic attacks). “I go to a therapist, I meditate, and I talk to people very quickly now — instead of isolating, I reach out,” she noted, emphasizing that coping with anxiety is a continuous process that she continues to incorporate into her daily life.