Camila Mendes has gotten candid about her mental health struggles while working on Riverdale. In a recent interview, the actress revealed that she used medication to “numb” herself on work days. However, Mendes shared that she has fond memories from the show despite the struggles.
Riverdale’s pressure left Camila Mendes needing to ‘numb’ herself
On her recent appearance on the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast, Camila Mendes shared that her mental health hit “rock bottom” when she was starring in Riverdale. The actress, who played Veronica Lodge across six seasons of the show, opened up about the difficult experience and how she dealt with it.
“My perfectionism came up a lot,” Mendes said. “I needed to be on all the time and at my best and looking my best.” The actress went on to reveal that she was also struggling with an eating disorder at the time.
“I felt a lack of control because I’m wearing a costume for a character that dresses differently than I would want to dress in my daily life,” Mendes shared. “She’s wearing tight dresses and mini skirts and heels and showing my stomach, my little midriff or whatever. And if I felt bloated or if I didn’t feel good about myself that day, I had to wear something that made me feel worse and made me feel super insecure.”
Mendes also revealed that she would often get “panic attacks,” which made her more anxious about potentially jeopardizing production.
“I’d have someone knocking on my door and being like, ‘They’re ready for you on set!’ And I’m crying because of the situation that I’m dealing with,’” Mendes shared. “And now my makeup’s ruined, and that’s another 30 minutes in the makeup chair for them to fix me.”
The actress added, “Everyone’s on set waiting, and now I feel the pressure that I’m the reason why we’re behind. Oh my God, it was like a pressure cooker environment — constantly. Because there is no time to deal with things.”
Mendes also said that she used to “numb” herself with prescribed anxiety medication, lorazepam, before showing up to work.
However, Mendes went on to clarify, “Not every day was like that. I did love my experience on the show, don’t get me wrong. I look back on that time very fondly.”
