Camila Cabello Opens Up About Her OCD: 'Everybody Has Different Ways of Handling Stress'

Camila Cabello is getting real about her struggles with obsessive-compulsive disorder

Camila Cabello is getting real about her struggles with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The “Havana” singer spoke about her mental health battle in a candid new interview with Cosmopolitan U.K.

“OCD is weird. I laugh about it now,” Cabello, 21, tells the outlet in their June cover story. “Everybody has different ways of handling stress. And, for me, if I get really stressed about something, I’ll start to have the same thought over and over again, and no matter how many times I get to the resolution, I feel like something bad is about to happen if I don’t keep thinking about it.”

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Cosmopolitan UK/Matthew Eades

The singer admits that she initially didn’t realize what was causing these obtrusive, recurring thoughts. It was only after being diagnosed with the disorder that she was able to move forward.

“When I found out, and [learned] how to step back from it, it made me feel so much better. I feel so much more in control of it now. To the point where I’m just like, ‘Aha! OK, this is just my OCD.’ I’ll ask my mom a question for the fourth time and she’ll be like, ‘That’s OCD. You’ve got to let it go.’”

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Cosmopolitan UK/Matthew Eades

Cabello will hit the road the summer as the support act (alongside Charli XCX) on Taylor Swift’s blockbuster reputation stadium tour. “I love her,” she tells Cosmo UK of Swift. “We just talk about boys. She loves love, and we love talking about it. It’s fun to just vent and talk and dream.”

While she previously characterized the jaunt as “like a big slumber party” with her superstar friends, Cabello admits that distance from her family can be difficult. “It’s the hardest part – being away from my family. I would never want to move to LA because I can’t live away from them.”

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Cosmopolitan UK/Matthew Eades

Luckily, her mother often accompanies on her trips. “It’s really nice, she’s my best friend. My other half,” Cabello says. “There’s something about being with your mom. You just feel like a kid. And your family doesn’t care if you’ve messed up or you flopped or if your song tanked. They love you no matter what and that’s so important to me.”

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