Dove Cameron’s two-year break is the “best thing” she could have done to help her mental health.
The 29-year-old singer-and-actress had “tricked” herself into believing she could continue to keep pushing forward because she thought she knew how to cope when she was struggling but though she felt “self-conscious” accepting she needed to take some time for herself, she now understands it was essential if she wanted to stay “functional”.
She told People magazine: “I think I was under the impression that because I have always been someone who was very in touch with what was going on with me, that it almost acted as a hindrance as I got older, I had convinced myself that I knew how to manage my mental health well.
“I tricked myself into thinking that I never needed to stop and take breaks. It was like, ‘I know what this is. I know how to deal with myself. I know how to help myself so I can continue doing whatever I want to do professionally at the rate that I want to do it, and I never need to stop.
“When I finally did get the cue from my body and my brain, it was like there’s no other way around this other than to stop and sort of take action around what’s going on inside my brain and my body.
“So while, yes, I felt a little self-conscious taking time for my mental health when nobody really knew what was going on with me, it’s the best thing that I’ve done for myself, and it will continue to be the only reason why I am so good and relatively functional now because I took that time.”
The ‘Descendants’ actress urged people to speak out about their mental health struggles as she has found “great peace” in doing so, as well as appreciating it when people confided in her.
She said: “I always found great peace in confiding in other people about what was going on with me, and I always found it to be one of the most beautiful things that someone could do for me in their life, confiding in me about what was going on with them.
“And the more that I did that as a practice, the more that I felt it was destigmatised in my social groups, in the world around me with fans coming to me talking about things where we relate and places in which our mental health crosses things that we’re all sort of struggling with.”
After taking time off to focus on herself, Dove believes she is now taking on new projects in her career “out of a place of joy”instead of trying to prove her own worth.
She said: “Before I think I loved music and I loved acting, but there was a part of me that felt that I had to do it to prove that I was worthy or I had to prove that I was worth contributing or I belonged here.
“I had to really ask myself, ‘Who am I doing this for? Am I doing this for me? Would I be doing this for me if I didn’t feel this huge lack of self-worth? Would I be doing this for myself if I didn’t just start as young as I did? Is this something I still want to continue to choose?’ And I’m very grateful to say that I spent a lot of time working on myself on my own…
“I’m very grateful to say that after all of that work, I’ve really fallen back in love with this line of work.
“I made this album out of a place of joy and love and knowing myself, and I returned to acting out of a place of love and joy and knowing myself.”