Real talk. Riverdale’s Camila Mendes opens up about recovering from her eating disorder — and how her body image issues were exacerbated when she landed the lead role in the hit CW series.
“I’ll watch every episode and be like, ‘Oh my God, my stomach is there.’ I’m like, so insecure, and it really fuels my eating disorder,’ Mendes, 28, said during the Thursday, January 26, episode of “Going Mental With Eileen Kelly” podcast. “I am have had one at various points in my life. A little in high school near the end of senior year and then back to college. And then came season 1 of Riverdale again. And that’s because, like, when you’re in your early 20’s your body fluctuates. My body has not settled Ito itself. And I was like, see for yourself, choose for yourself. My stomach, my arms, my chin – whatever – I’m going to want it.”
At Make Revenge star, who has portrayed Veronica Lodge in the teen drama since the show premiered in 2017, explained that her off-camera struggles were often in the way of the project during the filming of season 1, saying, “Really f-ks with you. process and the ability to emote and be authentic .
Mendes admits he “very afraid of eating carbohydrates” at that time, and “will avoid them [them] for a long time. Then I’ll binge and eat a bunch and then clean up.
She described it as a “terrible cycle,” adding that she began seeing a nutritionist to overcome her fear of certain foods. “They [the nutritionist] helped me overcome that problem by reintroducing bread into my life, like, ‘Look, it’s not going to kill you.’
Mendes has often been candid about her struggles with body image over the years. In February 2018, the Virginia native revealed that she ended her diet after realizing that “skinny” had become “more important than being healthy.”
“I recently went to a naturopath for the first time in my life. I told him about my anxiety about food and my obsession with diet,” she wrote via Instagram at the time. “He phrased the pivotal question in a way that struck a chord with me: what else can you think about if you don’t spend all your time thinking about diet? I suddenly remember all the activities I love that I use to occupy my time.
At Palm Springs the actress revealed that maintaining a small frame has begun to “consume” her until there is no room to focus on other “concerns”.
“You’ve taken away all the entertainment that brings me joy, and all that’s left is anxiety about food,” he continued. “My passion for education, cinema, music, etc. – all the interests that I have in my mind – have been consumed by the desire to be thin, and make me miserable.”
In the previous year, Mendes detailed how women in her family had struggled with eating disorders in similar ways.
“Growing up, I watched my sister suffer through the years, and I had times when I had symptoms as well,” she said, noting that she is involved with Project Heal – which provides grant funding. for people with eating disorders who can’t afford treatment — to “help eliminate the stigma associated with eating disorders.”