Camila Mendes On Dealing Eating Disorder During ‘Riverdale’

Camila Mendes, who starred as Veronica Lodge in Riverdale, said her personal struggles hampered her acting work.

Camila Mendes recently got candid on the eating disorder that she spent years battling. During a recent appearance at the Going Mental podcast, the actress explained she struggled with body image issues since childhood. Mendes also revealed that her problems got worse when she started filming the first season of the hit TV show Riverdale in 2017.

Explaining the same, the Riverdale star said, “I would watch every episode and be like, ‘Oh my God, my stomach there.’ I was, like, so insecure, and it really fueled my eating disorder.” The Do Revenge star further explained, “When you’re in your early 20s, your body is fluctuating. My body hadn’t settled into itself yet. I was looking at myself, taking myself apart.” She added, “My stomach, you know, my arms, my chin, anything–I would obsess over.”

Camila, who starred as Veronica Lodge in Riverdale, said her personal struggles off-camera interfered with her acting work. However, the actress revealed that she sought help and worked with a nutritionist to overcome her fears, including an aversion to carbohydrates. Mendes recalled, “I was really afraid of eating carbs, and what would happen is I would avoid it for a long period of time, and then I would binge and eat a bunch and then purge.”

Riverdale star added, “So it was this, like, terrible cycle. She helped me overcome that by reintroducing bread into my life to be like, ‘See, it’s not going to kill you.'” Mendes additionally brought up some triggers that set her back in her recovery. Hearing the phrase ‘you look so good’ following weight loss was a particular hurdle. “When I don’t hear that, I think I look terrible,” she confessed. “When no one’s commenting on how thin I look.”

Camila also shared that she has gradually learned to love her body. Moreover, in 2018, she shared an inspirational Instagram post in which she declared she was #donewithdieting. Despite all her experiences wrestling with self-image, Mendes said Riverdale has worked to force her to confront her own experiences to bring her emotionally complex character of Veronica Lodge to life.

ALSO READRiverdale Star Camila Mendes Is Dating Rudy Mancuso?