For more than a decade, the 35-year-old has been suffering with a dodgy knee after a football match went terribly wrong. In an interview with OK! magazine, he said: “The last 10 years have been hard work, and most days I would get up and my knee would be in bits and I couldn’t move.”

“I had a really bad ACL injury [a tear or sprain of the anterior cruciate ligament] which stopped me playing semi-pro,” the star revealed.

“Back then I didn’t have any money to do the operation or get the physiological afterwards,” he candidly confessed. “I needed to pay the bills.”

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What’s the anterior cruciate ligament?

The ACL is a tough band of tissue joining the thigh bone to the shin bone at the knee joint.

It runs diagonally through the inside of the knee and gives the knee joint stability.

It also helps to control the back-and-forth movement of the lower leg.

Common causes of an ACL injury include:

• Landing incorrectly from a jump
• Stopping suddenly
• Changing direction suddenly
• Having a collision, such as during a football tackle

You can also tear your ACL if your lower leg extends forward too much, or if your knee and lower leg are twisted.

The NHS report that ACL injuries are one of the most common types of knee injuries, accounting for around 40 percent of all sports injuries.

The health body adds: “If you tear the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in your knee, you may need to have reconstructive surgery.”

“It’s important to be aware that delaying surgery could cause further damage to your knee.”

Evidently, the artist – who has now released his new album, You Know I Know – put off the medical treatment he so clearly needed.

“[Last] summer I told my team I need time off to get this fixed, because it was going in a really bad direction,” Olly continued.

Even after reconstructive ACL surgery, some people may still experience knee pain or instability.

Usually, recovery from surgery can take around six months – something that Olly can attest to.

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The injured star has confirmed that even till this day his knee has “not really [recovered]”, but thanks the unfortunate incident for the direction his career took off in.

“It was the only reason I got into music, so I don’t hate my knee for being the way it is,” he reflected.

“I’ve had a few setbacks but it’s going well,” he added.

Currently signed to RCA Records and Sony Music in the UK, and Columbia Records in the US, it’s fair to say that his sporting accident has led to better things.

And, only recently, Olly has gone public with his newish girlfriend – 27-year-old Amelia Tank – who is a successful bodybuilder and model, having won the Bikini Pro World Champion & International Model World Champion.

The fitness enthusiast is also a communications manager for Lloyds Bank – talk about brains and beauty.

The pair reportedly met at a gym in Essex, after swapping flirty messages on Instagram earlier last year and have been Instagram official since the beginning of the New Year.

You can catch Olly on episodes of The Voice – alongside co-stars Will.i.am, Sir Tom Jones and newly appointed coach Meghan Trainor (who has replaced Jennifer Hudson) – on Saturdays at 8.30pm on ITV and STV.

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