Camila Mendes Reveals She Got Help for an Eating Disorder After She ‘Couldn’t Get Through’ a ‘Riverdale’ Fitting Without Crying
Truth bomb. Camila Mendes got very real about her struggle with an eating disorder and why she finally decided to get help. The actress revealed that she wasn’t even able to get through a costume fitting for Riverdale without breaking down in tears. Now, she’s feeling strong, healthy and wants to be an advocate for other people who might need help.
“I started seeing a therapist and started getting serious about recovery was when I couldn’t get through a fitting for Riverdale,” the 24-year-old confessed during a discussion with model Candice Huffine during the 2nd Annual POPSUGAR Play/Ground in New York on June 22. “I’d be in a fitting, and they’re usually about two hours long … It’s two hours of trying on clothes. It’s a lot. It can be overwhelming. Especially because you’re not shopping for yourself, they’re shopping for this character.”
The brunette beauty admitted that living up to the super sexy and confident Veronica was difficult. “I don’t dress like Veronica normally … Wearing tight dresses and tight skirts and things that were short and showed a lot of skin, it was like so the opposite of what I like to wear. It was really uncomfortable and it made me really insecure.”
It turned extremely stressful and was not the way Camila wanted to live her life. “I got to a point where I couldn’t even get through a fitting because 30 minutes in I was crying in the fitting because I was like, ‘Why don’t things fit me a certain way?'” However, that was when things changed for the better for the Windfall star. “When it got to that point where I couldn’t get through a fitting, I got help … That’s when everything changed when I started seeing a therapist. I highly, highly recommend it for everybody.”
Camila has previously opened up about battling bulimia but acknowledged that she didn’t realize how serious her problem was until her emotional moments on the Riverdale set. Her older sister also struggles with an eating disorder and The New Romantic star divulged that it had an effect on how she saw her own issues. “[My sister is] bulimic and went to rehab for it. That was a huge part of my upbringing,” Camila explained on stage. “Her situation was a lot more serious than mine so I think I was always, by comparison, like, ‘Oh, I’m not like that so I must not have one.’ You know, ‘I just purge every once in a while, it’s not a big deal, right?'” After teaming up with Project Heal — an organization that helps bring awareness to eating disorders and find treatments — the starlet realized she was in “denial.”
It’s amazing how open Camila is about her past struggles. We know she’s making an impact!
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