Despite the tragedy that follows the coronavirus pandemic, Camila Cabello found a positive thing to do while in quarantine. The singer and actress revealed that she prioritized her mental health after feeling “burned out.”
The 24-year-old “Havana” and “Don’t Go Yet” singer told Hunger Magazine that during these past 18 months, she has been able to work on her wellbeing.
“I think I was burned out,” she told the publication. “And I feel like that necessary, forced pause [caused by the pandemic] just allowed me to look at my life differently.”
According to the star, she feels that taking a break also saved her. “It allowed me to recalibrate what makes me happy and what is important to me,” she added. “I feel like it saved me in a lot of ways.”
In the past, the Cuban American songstress has shared her journey of living with anxiety and OCD and said that her mental health is a “constant ebb and flow;” therefore, she works with a therapist.
“I’m fortunate enough to choose what I say yes and no to,” she said. “That’s what‘s really important to me this time around. If it’s affecting my mental health in a negative way, I’ll say no and do it another way.”
Cabello added that her fans would enjoy a song that discusses her struggles on her new album Familia. “You know, there’s one song [I’ve recorded for the album] where I‘m talking about my mental health and anxiety without [specifically] saying it’s about anxiety,” she said. “But it’s about what anxiety looks and feels like for me in my body and in my mind. And that wasn’t something I came into the room intending to write about.”
“Ricky [Reed] just showed me a piece of music he had, and it all came out of me,” she added.
She also revealed how the pandemic impacted her relationship with her boyfriend, Shawn Mendes. “I feel like the public, and the media could almost have become a third person in our relationship,” she said. “But that’s not been a thing for us because Shawn and I don’t even look at social media like that. Even though we know it’s there, it’s almost like it doesn’t exist for us.”
“And that’s why we don’t live in LA,” she added. “We live in Miami or Toronto, where there’s less paparazzi, and that kind of attention is less of a thing.”
If you or someone you know needs mental health help, call the SAMHSA Treatment Referral Helpline, 1-877-SAMHSA7 (1-877-726-4727), to get general information on mental health and locate treatment services in your area. Speak to a live person, Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST. You can also text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to talk to a certified crisis counselor.