Dove Cameron nearly walked away from Hollywood in 2022.
The actress and singer, 29, recently addressed her earlier change of heart regarding her career in Hollywood three years ago.
“I didn’t go out. I didn’t see anyone. I didn’t have relationships. I didn’t see my friends more than a few times,” Cameron told NYLON in her new cover story.
“I didn’t work and just holed up in my house and tried to figure out how I was going to move forward, if I could move forward in the industry,” she added of her personal and professional reckoning that left her questioning her future in Hollywood.
The former Disney Channel child star even considered quitting Hollywood completely during that period of deep introspection.
“I had to really take stock of all of the things that I had been neglecting,” she added as she further referenced a “particularly tumultuous time for my family and personal life” when she first entered Hollywood.
Cameron recalled her career initially being both a dream and a distraction.
“The industry was like this beautiful extended make-believe — in the same way that when things are really bad, you can always dive into your favorite book,” she said.
Dove admitted that acting had started to become a dysfunctional coping mechanism amid mental health issues as it allowed her to have a “fake life” for “five days out of the week.”
“I spent less time being me, and that became addictive,” she said. “I was like, ‘This is so much better than what’s going on in my personal life.’”
