Riverdale’s Camila Mendes Has Opened Up About Her Struggle With Bulimia

With Riverdale growing in popularity and its stars growing in fame, the show’s front women Lily Reinhart and Camila Mendes have a massive influence on the young generation. Lily has been open in the past about struggling with being scrutinised by the public, and now her co-star Camila has opened up about her battle with bulimia.

Camila first admitted she struggled with an eating disorder on Instagram around this time last year.

In an interview with Shape, Camila recalls when she first started struggling with the eating disorder.

“I’ve struggled with bulimia. It happened a little bit in high school and again when I was in college. Then it came back when I started working in this industry with fittings all the time and watching myself on camera.

“I had such an emotional relationship with food and anxiety about everything I put into my body. I was so scared of carbs that I wouldn’t let myself eat bread or rice ever. I’d go a week without eating them, then I would binge on them, and that would make me want to purge. If I ate a sweet, I would be like, oh my god, I’m not going to eat for five hours now.

“I was always punishing myself. I was even anxious about healthy food: Did I eat too much of the avocado? Did I have too many fats for one day? I was consumed with the details of what I was eating, and I always felt as if I was doing something wrong.”

Camila realised she needed to ask for help to tackle her disorder last year.

“About a year ago, I got to a point when I realised I needed to see someone. So I went to a therapist, and she recommended a nutritionist as well, and seeing both of them changed my life. So much of the anxiety I had about food went away when I started learning more about nutrition. My nutritionist completely cured my fear of carbs.

“She also cured my addiction to dieting. I was always on some kind of weird diet, but I haven’t been on one since. I’m very proud of myself.”

Camila credits the body positivity movement and body positive celebrities like Rihanna for helping her heal.

“This body positivity movement we’re having right now is so amazing, and it’s helping me so much,” she said. “I’m seeing all these people who I look up to, like Rihanna, open up about their weight fluctuations and loving themselves the way they are. That makes me love myself more too.”

Despite finding her health again, Camila acknowledged in the interview that she is still a human who has her down days.

“The voices in my head never completely go away. They’re just way quieter now. Every once in a while I’ll look at myself in the mirror and think, ugh, I don’t like the way that looks. But then I’ll just drop it. I don’t let it consume me.”

• Camila Mendes