In a recent episode of the Going Mental podcast, Camila Mendes, known for playing Veronica Lodge on the hit TV series Riverdale, opened up about her struggles with body image and an eating disorder. The 28-year-old actress revealed that she's been dealing with these issues since childhood, but they hit a peak during the filming of the show's first season.
Mendes shared that she would watch every episode of "Riverdale" and pick apart her appearance, focusing specifically on her stomach. This fueled her eating disorder and caused her to become increasingly insecure about her body.
"When you're in your early 20s, your body is fluctuating... my body hadn't settled into itself yet," she said. "I was looking at myself, picking myself apart. My stomach, you know, my arms, my chin, everything - I would obsess about it."
The actress also revealed that this preoccupation with her appearance negatively impacted her work as an actress.
To overcome her fears and insecurities, Mendes sought the help of a nutritionist, who helped her reintroduce foods like bread into her diet.
"I was really afraid of eating carbs, and what would happen is I would avoid it for a long period of time, and then I would binge and eat a bunch and then purge," she recalled. "So it was this, like, terrible cycle. She helped me overcome that by reintroducing bread into my life to be like, 'See, it's not going to kill you.' "
She also shared that certain phrases, such as "you look so good" after losing weight, were triggers that set her back in her recovery.