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Dove Cameron might seem like she’s always been confident and composed, but her journey through fame hasn’t been easy. In a recent heartfelt chat on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, the Liv and Maddie star peeled back the curtain on what was really going on behind her Disney stardom—and it’s a story of pain, pressure, and ultimately, healing.
Cameron revealed that she was thrust into the spotlight just months after suffering one of the biggest losses of her life—her father’s death by suicide. “There was no way for me to wrap my head around it,” she shared. “One moment we were at his funeral, and the next, I was being asked to sign autographs at The Grove.” She was grieving privately, but the public only saw the bubbly girl playing twins on TV.
Despite the fame, inside, she was spiraling. Dove admitted she struggled deeply with fan attention, saying she often had panic attacks because she just wasn’t ready for that level of visibility. “I didn’t really learn how to navigate it for years,” she said.
On Liv and Maddie, she played two upbeat characters who made fans laugh. But off-screen, things weren’t so sunny. “I thought I was an extrovert,” she admitted, “but I surprised myself—I’m a lot more introverted than I ever knew. You don’t really find that out until you’re dropped into a situation like that.”
While the Disney set became a sort of safe space, the pressure never really let up. Dove said she convinced herself she was fine, that she didn’t need rest or time off. “I told myself I had it handled. That I didn’t need to stop.” But eventually, her mental and physical health forced her to hit pause.
That pause became her lifeline.
She stepped away from the spotlight, turned to therapy, and started the hard work of healing. “Taking that time was the best decision I ever made,” she told People. “It’s the only reason I feel like I can function now.”
Today, Dove’s finding balance again through music and acting—on her own terms. She recently dropped a new song, Too Much, and held a livestream concert where she performed and even auctioned off personal items to raise funds for mental health support through NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness).
Through it all, Dove’s message is clear: no matter how perfect someone’s life looks from the outside, there’s often a much heavier story behind the curtain—and healing takes time, care, and courage.