Yahoo Movies Camila Mendes opens up about having panic attacks while filming Riverdale
Riverdale star Camila Mendes has opened up about experiencing panic attacks for the first time during filming for the fifth season of the hit show, which is currently airing on Netflix.
Mendes, who plays Veronica Lodge on the show, spoke openly about how she began struggling with her mental health once filming for the show restarted, after a brief pause as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. After the production hiatus the show began filming again in Vancouver, and it was being stuck away from family that Mendes says affected her mental wellbeing.
Speaking to Health for their April 2021 issue Mendes said, "When we first started shooting season 5, I started having panic attacks, which was strange for me. I think it was because I was in Vancouver and borders were closed - no one could visit us. You start to miss your home and your life, and you don't have your friends or community with you.
"I want to say, I am so grateful to be working and would never want this to come off that I am not," she added. "Taking baths helped with the panic attacks. I also learned in those moments to put down my phone and take a break from technology and get in the tub with some music on and a book. I never did that before the pandemic, and now I love that I've learned to do that for myself."
Elsewhere in the interview Mendes spoke about what it was like auditioning for roles as a Brazilian woman saying that at the beginning of her career the opportunities simply weren't there.
"When I started and was auditioning a lot, it felt like either there were roles for white girls or roles for Spanish-speaking Latina women," she explained. "I am Latina. I was born in the US and am Brazilian. I speak Portuguese. In Hollywood, at the time, it didn't feel like there were roles for people with backgrounds like mine."
"But now," she continued. "I do think people are starting to understand that there are all different kinds of Latina women - and beyond that, all different types of people with different backgrounds and experiences. There isn't just one American experience or one Latina experience."
Riverdale is currently airing it's fifth season over on Netflix weekly, and as of last month US network The CW confirmed the the hit show has been renewed for a sixth series.
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