(Photo: JStone/Shutterstock.com)
Like so many of us on social media, Señorita singer Camila Cabello appears to have a healthy, happy life. But behind the scenes, it’s a different story.
The 23-year-old has been struggling with obsessive compulsive disorder and anxiety.
In recognition of Mental Health Month, Camila has opened up about her experience, penning an essay for WSJ Magazine in the hope that her story might help others going through something similar.
“To put it simply, it felt like my mind was playing a cruel trick on me,” she writes.
“It affected me physically too. I couldn’t sleep for a long time, I had a constant knot in my throat, I had chronic headaches and my body went through what felt like multiple roller-coaster rides every day.”
Camila describes how her social media posts don’t reflect her reality: Crying in the car with her mum, feeling so desperate to find an answer, experiencing “what felt like constant, unwavering, relentless anxiety that made day-to-day life painfully hard.”
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The singer hasn’t spoken out about her struggles because she was “embarrassed and ashamed,” but now realises that holding it all in caused her even more pain.
These days, Camila says she has learnt to “be friends” with her anxiety without giving her “too much attention. Her OCD rarely appears and anxiety no longer consumes her life.
Camila is using her platform to urge her millions of fans and followers to “speak up” about their own struggles too.
“Far from being a sign of weakness, owning our struggles and taking the steps to heal is powerful.”
We couldn’t agree more Camila!
Read her full essay at wsj.com