Camila Mendes, aka Veronica Lodge in Riverdale, has shared her battle with an eating disorder with model Candice Huffine at Popsugar Playground in New York over the weekend, as Who reports.
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Mendes spoke candidly about being “in denial” about her mental health issues, only realising that she was also suffering when she came on board with eating disorder support non-profit Project HEAL, after years in Hollywood.
“I don’t even think I knew I had an eating disorder until I was in the industry,” she said.
Her older sister had also struggled with bulimia, which made her doubt the legitimacy of her own experience.
“I had this mentality … [my sister’s] situation was a lot more serious than mine so I’d always find comparisons like, ‘Oh, I’m not like that so I must not have an eating disorder like I just purge every once in a while, it’s not a big deal, right?’”
Mendes became aware that she needed professional help when she became “overwhelm[ed]” during fittings for Riverdale, particularly two-hour ones where she had to try on clothes she wouldn’t wear in her everyday life, like short skirts and tight dresses.
I started to see a therapist and started getting serious about recovery when I couldn’t get through a fitting.
It was like so the opposite of what I like to wear and it was really uncomfortable. It made me really insecure, so it got to a point where I couldn’t get through a fitting. Thirty minutes in, I was crying … I was like, ‘Why don’t things fit me a certain way?’
Ultimately she said she “highly recommend[s]” seeing a therapist. And hell yes, girl, say it!!! Therapy is great!!!
In an Instagram post from early last year, Camila Mendes revealed her “anxiety around food and obsession with dieting“, before speaking to Shape later in the year about suffering from bulimia and how talking to a therapist changed her life.
“I had such an emotional relationship with food and anxiety about everything I put into my body,” she said.
“About a year ago, I got to a point when I realised I needed to see someone. So I went to a therapist, and she recommended a nutritionist as well, and seeing both of them changed my life.”
