Shawn Mendes Opens Up About Break-Up With Camila Cabello: ‘Love Is A Lot’

The 26-year-old appeared as a guest on the latest episode of Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast where he delved into his public break-up with Camila Cabello.

The “Why Why Why” singer shared a rare insight into their relationship’s ups and downs and how social media can harm a love that is heavily based in the limelight.

“Honestly I think Camila and I have done the best job at preserving our private little fire of love for each other,” he began.

“Because no matter how strong mentally you are, when there are millions of people commenting on it, it’s so hard not to be affected by it, and to be swayed by it, and to be inspired by it, and to desire it because people desire it, or to hate it because people hate it. It’s just human and I feel like her and I have just like worked extremely hard to just protect each other and protect that love.”

The former couple got back together in 2023, two years after their initial split, only to call it quits a second time a few months later.

“Love is a lot, but partnership is more than love and I think it has a lot to do with how you support each other in your day-to-day life and really being honest about who you are,” Mendes further explained on the podcast. “And making sure that someone that you’re with is in support of that and doesn’t have to bend themselves entirely to be in support of that and vice-versa.”

When the pair were trying to navigate a break-up, something that is usually done in private between a couple, Mendes and Cabello had the whole world watching them. However, as the pair have both grown up on the world stage, they are well versed in how to keep the noise out.

“I don’t really go on social media anymore so I don’t really see or care what people say about my love life or my relationships,” he said. “Because it’s honestly too detrimental to the actual relationship itself that I’ve become pretty strict on that part of it.”

And despite being catapulted into fame at 11 years old when he began posting covers to the video-sharing platform Vine, Mendes is still shocked at how some of the public views celebrities.

“It is crazy man. We’re not in a movie, this is not a movie,” he said, referring to fame. “Sometimes maybe they think [they are] and sometimes they literally are, but it isn’t a movie. This is real life and this is real love and love is confusing and hard and goes through dips and goes through pauses and goes through breaks.”

While the pair are no longer together, they still remain close and Mendes credits that to “over” communicating.

“For me and for us, I think immense honesty just, like, over-communication, ‘I felt this way when I was doing this interview and I said this thing and it felt weird and I’m sorry if it came off like that and you know I love you’, and it just immediately cuts through any type of assumption that I could make or she could make from anything.”

“We’re both amazing at that. I’ll be the first to text her she’ll be the first to text me, and as long as we’re good, all the noise is just noise and that’s been a huge part of it.”

Listen to Mendes’ full episode on On Purpose with Jay Shetty here.