Camila Cabello rose to fame when she auditioned for The X Factor and was placed alongside several other talented singers in the pop group Fifth Harmony. Cabello has since shined in her solo career, sharing sophomore record Romance at the end of last year. While the singer has been open about much of her personal life with fans and followers, Cabello has now decided to get candid about her struggle with mental health and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.
Cabello addressed her struggles with mental health in a story she wrote for the Wall Street Journal. In the article, Cabello said that while the public can see many positive aspects of her life that she shares on social media, she has been quietly struggling with “relentless” anxiety and OCD:
“Here’s what there aren’t pictures of from the last year: me crying in the car talking to my mom about how much anxiety and how many symptoms of OCD I was experiencing. My mom and me in a hotel room reading books about OCD because I was desperate for relief. Me experiencing what felt like constant, unwavering, relentless anxiety that made day-to-day life painfully hard.”
Cabello admitted that she hasn’t been open about her mental health struggles because she feared the public would change their perception of her. “I didn’t want the people who thought I was strong and capable and confident — the people who most believed in me — to find out that I felt weak,” she wrote. “The little voice in my head was telling me that if I was honest about my mental health struggle and my internal battles (i.e. being human), people would think there was something wrong with me, or that I wasn’t strong, or that I couldn’t handle things.”
The singer continued that her fight with anxiety had come to a tipping point and it was affecting her general well being. “For a long time, anxiety felt like it was robbing me of my humor, my joy, my creativity and my trust,” Cabello admitted. “But now anxiety and I are good friends. I listen to her, because I know she’s just trying to keep me safe, but I don’t give her too much attention. And I sure as hell don’t let her make any decisions.”
Cabello concluded her story by saying social media oftentimes pushes unrealistic standards, but she has since learned that there is power in prioritizing mental health. “We live in a culture that pursues an unattainable perfection,” she wrote. “Social media can make us feel like we should be as perfect as everybody else seems to be. Far from being a sign of weakness, owning our struggles and taking the steps to heal is powerful.”
Read Cabello’s full article here.
Romance is out now via Simco/Epic. Get it here.