British singer Ellie Goulding was forced to take time off to tackle exhaustion when she realised her body was "giving up".

The On My Mind star pulled out of two festivals, took a few weeks off work and went on vacation in France after doctors diagnosed her with exhaustion and ordered her to rest in July (16).

She has now revealed that at the time of her diagnosis she had no idea how poor her health really was, and only has a grasp on what a bad state she was in now that she’s recovered.

"I was diagnosed with exhaustion a couple of months back, but it’s only now that I realise how bad it really was," she told Britain's Stylist magazine. "When I think back to my tiredness, my slump, not wanting to exercise and not being interested in anything... It wasn’t depression, it was just my body giving up."

Ellie also explained that the publicity push for her third album Delirium and its subsequent singles never seemed to stop following its release in November, 2015. And she adds that it can’t help that she throws herself into all work commitments wholeheartedly.

"When you release an album, it’s like pushing the first in a line of dominoes that never stops," she shared."You’re proud of your work, it’s a product of you, your writing and your imagination – you want to do everything you can to make it a success. To half-a*se it just isn’t really an option for me."

Ellie made her comeback at the Lollapalooza Festival in Chicago, Illinois on 31 July (16) and put on an energetic performance. After the show, she wrote on Instagram that she felt "blessed".