Tiffany Darwish is loving her surprise resurgence thanks to Stranger Things using her iconic tune, but things haven’t been easy in the past few years.

The I Think We’re Alone Now singer revealed she ‘had a little bit of a nervous breakdown’ several years ago.

‘I’m open to talk about it,’ she calmly told Metro before explaining how she suffered from long Covid, and then her ‘whole immune system just collapsed from stress’.

Her symptoms included ‘weird things’ like inflammation in her hands, as well as struggling with her mental health.

‘I hadn’t had any health challenges really, before that,’ Tiffany, 54, shared. ‘I think that touring does take it out of you a little bit but I think we all live such a fast pace now, we don’t shut off as easily.’

Lockdown sparked the health crisis, as the super sociable singer’s world crumbled around her while she was facing divorce and a shock loss.

‘My body has never come back to normality,’ she confessed. ‘[The breakdown] just completely reworked everything.

‘I was going through a divorce at the time. So there were all these aspects of “look, I had it planned out and financially planned out”, and everything was okay, and it’s all gone.’

She had been married to businessman Ben George since 2004, but after 14 years together, the couple had decided to separate and eventually divorced.

Around the same time, Bulmaro Garcia, her first husband and father to her son Elijah, died. The pair had been together for over a decade, splitting in 2003.

‘I just went into independent mode,’ Tiffany continued. ‘I started cooking to make myself feel better, doing my grandma’s recipes, just wishing that my dad, my mom, and my grandparents were there.’

She found sanctuary in food, leading her to create cookbook Pop Life, which is filled with nostalgic 80s recipes reimagined with help from chef Alicia Shevetone.

Food has always been a huge part of Tiffany’s life, with the Could’ve Been singer seeking out local restaurants when touring the world.

Her need to explore used to get her in ‘trouble’, as she would be desperate to leave the hotel but at just 15, she needed an adult with her.

‘I would drag the band,’ Tiffany laughed. ‘I would be like, “Let’s go eat some fun foods” and they’d be like “There’s food at the hotel.”

‘I wanted to know where the locals eat, because that’s really me visiting a country and seeing what this culture and the people are all about.’

As she got older, the singer would ask the chefs for their recipes and recreate them when she returned home.

Reflecting on how the lack of social media and even meet and greets made her feel cut off from fans, Tiffany called this her ‘research’ – a wholesome attempt to connect with those around her.

Being a pop icon in the 80s who was also a self-confessed foodie wasn’t always easy, though, with the singer jokingly blaming her Lebanese heritage for her ‘voluptuous curves’.

Having grown up in the spotlight, Tiffany definitely feels ‘pressure’ and is admittedly ‘a little sensitive’ about her looks, especially when they’re a camera on her.

‘I’ve always had a weight battle here and there,’ she acknowledged, later saying she was hoping some of her holistic therapies could help her slim down ahead of her tour.

She’s set to perform across 15 dates later this month in the US, with UK festival gigs lined up for June.

The timing of her book launch and performances alongside her recent chart resurgence was not planned, after all she didn’t even know her song was going to be used in Stranger Things.

I Think We’re Alone Now featured in a pivotal scene for Holly Wheeler in the final season of the show, giving her the strength to escape the Upside Down.

Tiffany was making dinner (‘of course’) when her phone started blowing up with messages asking if she’d seen the latest episodes of Stranger Things.

It was a ‘total shock’, especially when it climbed back into the charts, following the footsteps of Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill four years before.

‘I had no clue, but it was a great end to 2025 and into this year, people rediscovering the song, rediscovering me, but also young people rediscovering the 80s,’ she shared.

Tiffany confessed she is ‘such a fan’ and that the show was ‘epic’ as a snapshot of that time period, which means so much to her.

‘Every episode, it was my childhood that comforted me,’ she reflected. ‘At times, because I would just be like, “Oh, I remember back in the day”, I needed that.

‘It made the world feel a little bit lighter. There were times I’d watch the programme and feel kind of sad because I missed my parents. I miss those easier days.’

In a stranger(r) twist of fate, I Think We’re Alone Now almost wasn’t covered by Tiffany, who at the time was much more rock and country focused.

She wasn’t sure the pop track, originally sung by Tommy James & the Shondells, would showcase her vocals.

‘I took it home and played it to my friends because I was learning it – I used to learn songs while I was doing homework – and they were like dancing around,’ she recalled.

‘I learned even then that there was something magical about this song. People feel good when this song is played, so I’m forever grateful to have it.’

I Think We’re Alone Now spent three weeks at number one in the UK, becoming the fifth best-selling song of 1988.

As for her future music, Tiffany isn’t feeling ‘restrained’ as she learned how to play singing bowls, as well as listening to the likes of Iron Maiden.

She smiled and shared: ‘I’m not trying to prove anything. I think I’ve proven myself. I can say I am a pop icon. Nailed it, love it, grateful for it. So now I just can be me.’

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