Camila Mendes says she suffered from eating disorder and panic attacks while filming Riverdale

Camila Mendes has opened up about her issues with perfectionism and how it has impacted both her life and career.

Mendes, whose most recent role was in Masters of the Universe as Teela, recently sat down with Jay Shetty for his podcast.

During the conversation, Mendes discussed battling an eating disorder and panic attacks during her time on Riverdale, that ended in 2023.

The 32-year-old said she'd been struggling with an eating disorder since high school but it became worse while filming the hit show – which also starred the likes of Cole Sprouse, KJ Apa, and Lili Reinhart.

"That’s when I really started to come face to face with it," she told Shetty. "And 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."

'My perfectionism came up a lot'

Mendes, who starred as Veronica Lodge in the TV show, continued: "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. And that perfectionism pattern showed up a lot through my relationship with my body."

This was something that would trigger Mendes' panic attacks because she'd feel 'so disgusting' and was struggling to accept how she looked, but she still had to be on camera for her job.

Something that made her panic attacks worse was the fact she felt like she didn't have the space to process what she was going through at the time.

'I had to wear something that made me feel worse'

Mendes explained: "I’m somebody who doesn’t experience a panic attack coming because I only have the panic attack if I feel for whatever reason that I’m not allowed to feel the emotion that I’m feeling freely.

"So, if I’m feeling like I want to cry and I know that I can’t, that will cause my panic attack."

If the Do Revenge did have the time to feel what she needed to feel though, she would have felt much better.

"If I was told, 'You have an hour'. I'd be like, 'Great. I’m going to cry for a bit. Let it out. I’ll be good to go in an hour,'" Mendes said, "but you don't have that."

"I have no issue just crying it out for a bit, letting it out because sometimes that’s all it is. You just need to release the energy," she added.

However, her whole experience wasn't impacted by panic attacks and overall she loved being on Riverdale, which ran for seven seasons.

"Not every day was like that," she insisted. "I did love my experience on the show, don’t get me wrong. I look back on that time very fondly.

"It was just being young and not having control over your schedule in your life. That was really hard."

If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone, contact National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD). You can reach them on their free hotline at 1(888)-375-7767, which is open Monday-Friday, 9am-9pm CST.