Riverdale actress Camila Mendes has always had a strong voice.
She is a role model for young girls and she knows it… so when she was interviewed Womens Health magazine, she got raw about an incident that she and many other people have suffered from. Sexual assault.
Recounting a time when she was a student at New York University, Cami opened up about being drugged and subsequently sexually assaulted when she was only a freshman.
WATCH: Camila Mendes’ important message for Women’s Health
“I got the tattoo after my freshman year,” the 25-year-old actress said in her interview with the magazine, which refers to the “to build a home” ink above her ribs.
“I had a very, very bad experience; I was roofied by someone who sexually assaulted me.”
The tattoo, for Cami, serves as a reminder to “strengthen both her sense of self and environment around her.”
“Whenever I feel like I’m going through something difficult, I think about what I can do physically for myself,” she said. “I danced for seven years, from age 4 to 11. Then I did musicals as a kid, then so much of acting school is movement classes and connecting your breath to your body. Activity has always been an important part of my life.”
Actress Lucy Hale opened up in 2018 about a similar incident in which she was assaulted while intoxicated.
“To keep it somewhat vague… I think along with a lot of other people we’ve all had our experiences like that and until it’s happened to you, you kind of don’t really understand how it can affect you and everyone around you,” Lucy wrote on social media at the time.
“I’ve experienced stuff on the small side, but assault is assault,” she told Haute Living. “I think there are a lot of people who have been intoxicated and taken advantage of. It’s happened to me and people I know. It’s very common. Luckily, I’ve been unscathed; nothing’s hurt me too badly.”
Unfortunately, it’s a story that many people can relate to.
For Camila, it’s not the only battle she has faced. During her Women’s Health cover story, she delved into her eating disorder struggles.
“I’ve only recently gotten better. I needed professionals I trusted to tell me things that I didn’t know,” she admitted. “When I was a teenager, there were no role models when it came to body positivity—that simply was not a thing. Being thin was the thing.”
Now, she wants to be the role model that she needed so badly as a young girl.
“It’s health that’s important, not appearance,” she said. “I make choices that are good for me—and not just in my body—but for my soul, for my mind. And sometimes that’s eating ice cream because I want to eat ice cream.”
It’s not the first time she’s opened up about it.
WATCH: Camila talks about body positivity
In June this year, she spoke on a panel for PopSugar with model Candice Huffine, revealing: “I don’t even think I knew I had an eating disorder until I was in the industry.”
“I had this mentality … [my sister’s] situation was a lot more serious than mine so I’d always find comparisons like, ‘Oh, I’m not like that so I must not have an eating disorder like I just purge every once in a while, it’s not a big deal, right?’” Camila shared.
She came to the realisation that she had the disorder when she got involved with the nonprofit organisation Project Heal who raise funds to help people recovering from eating disorders.
A big moment for Camila was when she had to deal with fittings on the Riverdale set that again pushed for the actress to seek help.
“I started to see a therapist and started getting serious about recovery when I couldn’t get through a fitting,” she said.
She got into detail about the “overwhelming” fitting sessions for The CW hit show (Netflix for Australian fans) where she was trying on clothes for Veronica that she wouldn’t ever choose to wear in real life such as short skirts, and skin-revealing outfits.
“It made me really insecure, so it got to a point where I couldn’t get through a fitting. Thirty minutes in, I was crying … I was like, ‘Why don’t things fit me a certain way?’” added The Perfect Date star.
She admits that she’s had “super-dark times” but there’s always hope.
“I made a change and I started seeing a therapist and I highly recommend it,” she said.
We hear you girl.
Need help? Call Lifeline on 131 114, visit www.lifeline.org.au/get-help/get-help-home, or call beyondblue on 1300 224 636.
If you would like to talk to someone about mental health, you can call the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800 or Headspace on 1800 650 890.
If you or someone you know is affected by sexual assault or family violence, call the 1800RESPECT hotline or visit www.1800respect.org.au/. You can also call the Domestic Violence Hotline on 1800 656 463.
If you or someone you know is affected by an eating disorder, call the Butterfly Foundation on 1800 33 4673 or visit their website here.
If you are in immediate danger, call 000.