LOS ANGELES-Pop star Sia has opened up about her battle with her body image and how she felt she needed to be thin to be considered a successful pop artist.

The ‘Cheap Thrills’ hitmaker has admitted she’s struggled with her body image over the years because she’s always felt you have to be thin to be a successful musician, despite her friends telling her size isn’t important in her field.

She added: ‘’I have dieted like crazy over the last 10 years. Trying to fit into the stereotype of, like, ‘Hot pop star.’ Somebody did say, ‘You don’t have to be a model. You’re actually an artist ... It literally doesn’t matter what you look like.’’’ The ‘Flames’ singer - who dated filmmaker Erik Lang for two weeks before they got engaged in 2014, but divorcing just two years later - also opened up about what it’s like using dating apps like Tinder in her 40s, and how she is only now learning the art of ‘’intimacy’’ because dating in her home country of Australia is very casual.  She admitted: ‘’I went on a couple of dates, and they were nice. ‘’It was very funny, and it was great practice. I’m trying to practice intimacy. ‘Cause we don’t date in Australia. We just get together.’’ Sia - whose full name is Sia Kate Isobelle Furler - likes to give potential suitors a few chances before deciding whether they are right for her. She explained: ‘’I probably go on two or three dates before I say, ‘Hmm, I don’t think this is my person.’ It’s an interesting process, dating at 42.’’ The singer - who hides her face by wearing oversized hats and wigs when she performs - previously revealed she dislikes being famous, because it makes her ‘’crazy’’ and is ‘’bad for [her] self-esteem’’.

She said: ‘’It literally f**ks with my sanity. I stop feeling authentic because I’m trying to find ways to say the same thing differently. And after a while, you can’t. It becomes bad for my self-esteem.

‘’People say, ‘Enough of this s**t where she doesn’t show her face’...I’m trying to do this differently, for serenity. And it’s a fun game for me as well. I have nothing to lose. But of course I want to be loved. So when people say, ‘Show your face, you’re not ugly.’ I want to say, ‘I know. I’m not doing it because I think I’m ugly; I’m trying to have some control over my image. And I’m allowed to maintain some modicum of privacy. But also I would like not to be picked apart or for people to observe when I put on ten pounds or take off ten pounds or I have a hair extension out of place or my fake tan is botched. Most people don’t have to be under that pressure, and I’d like to be one of them.’’