Riverdale is finally nearing its end with the final, seventh season airing in late March. I stopped watching after the third season when it became less teen drama and more supernatural. Camila Mendes, who plays Veronica Lodge, went on a podcast called “Going Mental With Eileen Kelly” and opened up about her eating disorder, including that she struggled with it during the first season of the show. She said seeing herself on screen exacerbated problems she’d had before and she was really afraid of eating carbs, which caused her to restrict, then binge and purge.
Real talk. Riverdale’s Camila Mendes opened up about recovering from her eating disorder — and how her body image issues were exacerbated when she landed a lead role on the hit CW series.
“I would watch every episode and be like, ‘Oh my God, my stomach there.’ I was like, so insecure, and it really fueled my eating disorder,’ Mendes, 28, said during the Thursday, January 26, episode of the “Going Mental With Eileen Kelly” podcast. “I had one at various points in my life. A little bit in high school toward the end of senior year and then it came back in college. And then it came back season 1 of Riverdale. And it was because, like, when you’re in your early 20’s your body is fluctuating. My body hadn’t settled Ito itself yet. And I was like, looking at myself, picking myself apart. My stomach, my arms, my chin — anything — I would obsess over.”
The Do Revenge star, who has portrayed Veronica Lodge on the teen drama since the show premiered in 2017, explained that her off-camera struggles often got in the way of her job during the filming of season 1, saying, “It really f—ks with your process and your ability to emote and be authentic.”
Mendes admitted she was “really afraid of eating carbs” at the time, and “would avoid [them] for a long period of time. Then I would binge and eat a bunch and then purge.”
She explained that it was a “terrible cycle,” adding that she began seeing a nutritionist to overcome her fear of certain foods. “She [the nutritionist] helped me overcome that by reintroducing bread into my life to be, like, ‘See, it’s not going to kill you.’”
When Riverdale first started, I remember being pleasantly surprised that the pretty young women on the show weren’t extremely thin like the CW actresses on shows when I was in high school and college. I thought that sent a nice message to young women watching the show. I recall Camila discussing her eating disorder history before, but I didn’t realize it was happening while she was on Riverdale too. But it makes sense that she was hyper-critical of herself and looking for control at that moment in time — she got hired shortly after graduating from NYU and that show was (is?) a big deal. It makes sense those old feelings would resurface when she was under a lot of scrutiny and pressure, both externally and internally. And it also makes sense that her image and eating issues affected her job. It’s hard to focus on work, especially work on your feet and moving around, when you’re distracted and hungry. It’s good that Camila saw a nutritionist and she’s doing better now. Her costar, Lili Reinhart, has also talked a lot about body image and spoken out against the unrealistic expectations for women’s bodies. So hopefully the two of them found solidarity among one another on the Riverdale set.
Photos credit: Phillip Faraone for Netflix, Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon and Getty
That show went on for entirely too long and I’m sure those actors are secretly happy it’s finally over. Camilla is really talented and while Do Revenge was really great she needs to be offered adult roles now, she’s almost 30!
I agree!! She said in an interview recently that Do Revenge is her send off to playing teenagers—that she wanted to do it one more time not in Riverdale and now she’s done
When people say they avoid carbs, does that just refer to starchy carbs or fruit too? Kinda redundant to say that sounds really unhealthy but how do you have the energy for long workdays on your feet (as I imagine filming entails) if you’re not eating carbs?
I imagine she means refined sugar and flour. But someone who really wants to set themselves into ketosis will also avoid most fruits too.
Glad to see another young celebrity be open and honest about their challenging relationship with food, especially carbs.
I loved the Archie comics as a kid, I collected them. This show, however, was TERRIBLE and had NOTHING to do with the Riverdale gang except their names and likeness. Luke Perry was the only character I cared about.
Glad the show is over. So much gossip about the kids on the show and their antics in VanCity; it filmed near my home in BC. Somehow, that annoyed me even more than this supernatural-teen-thriller garbage that should have been at least a glimmer of the iconic Archie comics. Just sayin’…
I thought the first season showed potential and then it went completely batshit crazy off the rails.
I stopped watching after Mark Consuelos joined the show. I cannot watch him! He is such a terrible actor.
@carol Urgh, Hiram is the worst. He should have been killed off long ago.