Katy Perry takes anti-anxiety medication before shows

Pop star Katy Perry downs anti-anxiety pills prior to her shows to help manage her stage fright.

The Roar singer suffers crippling nerves before she goes on stage, so she relies on beta blockers - drugs used to treat anxiety disorders - to get her through.

She tells Cosmopolitan magazine, "I have to take beta blockers (before each show), I get so nervous... (I think) that I have to get through this; I can't let these people down, but mostly I can't let myself down. I've been given a great opportunity and there are 500 b**ches behind me who will snatch my weave off my head if I don't kick-ball-change through this two-hour show."