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Camila Mendes, 29, opened up about how “hard” it was working with her ex-boyfriend Charles Melton, 33, during their time on Riverdale, in a new interview. The actress, who dated the actor on and off from season 3 through season 6 of the show, admitted it was an “emotional” time when they had to film together after their split.
“Obviously, right when [a breakup] happens, it’s hard and it’s emotional,” Camila said on the latest episode of Dax Shepard and Monica Padman’s “Armchair Expert” podcast. “It’s the worst. But it’s hard because the timing of the show. Anytime we started to hook up off set and knew that something was brewing, our characters would start dating. But they didn’t know. No one knew. The writers would just naturally make it happen.”
On Riverdale, Camila played the role of Veronica while Charles played the second version of Reggie Mantle after Ross Butler was unable to return due to other filming obligations. Just as they were in real life, their characters were romantically linked for some of the series, and Camila opened up about how they were brought back together after their first split despite finding other partners off-camera.
“We dated for a year and then broke up for about a year and then got back together for about a year,” she explained, adding that Riverdale took a long hiatus between seasons 5 and 6 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When they were in lockdown together in Vancouver, Canada, where the show filmed, they found their spark again.
“When we came back we were both in other relationships,” she continued. “But then, naturally, the two of us got out of our own relationships — not knowing the other did. And we’re in lockdown [because of COVID-19], we can’t leave Vancouver. And it’s, like, maybe second times a charm. Maybe this time it will be different,” she explained.
The lovebirds decided to call it quits for good before the final season filmed and aired in 2023, and were able to come to terms with moving on from that part of their lives. “There was another break between [season 6 and season 7] and when we came back for the last season, there was a definite air of, zen, we’re past it, and we worked together a lot as well but not in a romantic capacity,” she said, adding that their characters had also split on screen. “It went super smoothly last season. I think the whole last season felt different.”
Since the split from Charles, Camila found love again with actor and director Rudy Mancuso, whom she met while working on Prime Video’s Música. They publicly confirmed their relationship in November 2022.
