KUALA LUMPUR: The singer and songwriter of Azzahra Band, Ejai Aziz, denies that he is mentally ill.
In a recent Harian Metro report, the 37-year-old artiste whose full name is Mohd Azrizal Mohd Aziz, said that he was recently warded at a psychiatric hospital in Tampoi, Johor, due to extreme depression.
Ejai added that he spent two days at the hospital as doctors had put him under observation.
"However, I was discharged after the doctors had diagnosed that the symptoms were not due to mental illness, but rather only the results of extreme depression due to personal problems which had made me feel like I had been a failure.
"I had been depressed since February last year. I used to wander around buildings as my problems got the better of me and made me feel like it had been too much for me to handle.
"There was a time when I even had suicidal thoughts after I felt so useless and helpless. Then, it felt like I had no more reason to carry on living as I was so lost, without any direction to keep on moving," he said in the report.
Ejai added that he wasn't having any financial difficulties as the songs he had composed and recorded in the past were still regularly played on the radio and that he was still receiving royalty payments from the recording label.
The singer revealed that his condition was due to personal problems, which included failed relationship.
Ejai added that although the recording company had been asking him to come to Kuala Lumpur to work on the launch of a new duet song, he just wasn't ready to do so yet.
"It had been recorded a while back but I asked for it to be held back due to my problem," he said.
Ejai, who is currently living in Johor Baru, believes that he still needs some time to fully recover.
"Right now, I'm learning to get close to God and to slowly regain my strength. I'm getting there, and that's why I'm now able to share this with the press."
After his first marriage ended with a divorce, Ejai then tied the knot with Nursyahirah Azhar on Dec 9, 2022.
He has two sons from his previous marriage, namely Muhamad Amie Rayyan, 8, and Muhamad Anas Hafiy, 7, who are now staying with their maternal grandparents in Perak.