Jude Bellingham offered a superb insight into the pressures of social media in his early career.
The England international was earmarked for stardom from a young age after storming through the youth ranks at Birmingham City.
After just one eye-catching season with the Blues first team - as he netted four goals and appeared in 41 of their 46 EFL Championship games - he was snapped up by Borussia Dortmund.
Despite Birmingham's relegation to the English third tier, Bellingham smashed the club's youngest player and scorer records at 16 years, 38 days and 16 years, 63 days respectively, and the club boldly retired his No.22 shirt.
He skyrocketed in Dortmund, winning the DfB Pokal Cup in 2021, before missing out on the Bundesliga title to Bayern Munich on goal difference in his final 2022/23 season.
Bellingham's sensational performances at the heart of Dortmund's midfield ignited rumours of a major Premier League side making a move for him, but the lure of Real Madrid was too strong.
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An £89m [$130m] move to the Spanish capital allowed him to take the next step in his career, with a La Liga and UEFA Champions League double in his first year.
Bellingham took Spain by storm with 23 goals from midfield, as Carlo Ancelotti secured his two target trophies, and his star continues to rise decent a recurrent shoulder injury.
Jude Bellingham opens up on image issue at Real Madrid
However, despite the flood of trophies and individual accolades, Bellingham admitted he made mistakes early on when dealing with criticism.
"With the growth of social media and technology, there's more ways to attack someone, to make them feel down," he told Laureus as part of World Mental Health Day.
"I think there's still a stigma around talking about mental health. I know there's been times where I've felt vulnerable, doubted myself and needed someone to talk to - but I tried to keep up this macho athlete image of, "I don't need anyone'.
"The truth is I do, everyone does. And you'll feel a lot better from talking about your feelings and emotions."
Bellingham has remained in Madrid during the international break, after being overlooked by Thomas Tuchel, after only just returning from shoulder surgery.
He is expected to come back in for November's camp as England wrap up their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign against Serbia and Albania.
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