Camila Cabello Opens Up About Her ‘Crippling Anxiety’

Camila Cabello has a new perspective on life after a difficult stretch that has since inspired her new album, Familia. The 25-year-old singer told People's Kay Adams in this week's issue that when she began the process of making her upcoming third album, she was not in a good place. "I was cripplingly anxious and was in the worst mental health state ever," she said. "And then I took a break at the beginning of the pandemic. I started doing therapy [and] trying to feel better."

For Cabello, seeking help meant staying true to herself no matter what. "For me, it was, if this process doesn't help me in feeling better, and if it's not me being honest and vulnerable and unfiltered, I don't really see how this is going to happen," she told the outlet. "That was my intention, was just to be myself, whatever that looked like at the time."

Though Cabello didn't address which life events her upcoming album will cover, she navigated a public breakup with Shawn Mendes, her boyfriend of two years, in November. "I just word-vomited into a mic in the form of a melody," she said. "It really doesn't get more personal than that. I was all stream of consciousness."

"There's a sense of trust in myself that I feel like I didn't have before because I was so anxious all the time," the "Havana" singer said. "I really feel like I'm living my truth and I'm speaking my truth."

Earlier this week, Cabello [inlihnk id="camila-cabello-slams-paparazzi" text="called out the paparazzi in Miami"], who took photos of her over the weekend, making her feel self-conscious about her body. "Every time I’ve felt super vulnerable and unprepared — I’ve worn bikinis that were too small and paid no mind to how I looked, then saw pictures online and comments and been so upset," Cabello wrote on Twitter.

Familia drops this Friday, April 8. Listen to "Bam Bam" featuring Ed Sheeran below: