Dove Cameron speaks out about mental health and her father’s suicide in cover story for Byrdie

Dove Cameron covers the latest issue of Byrdie.

The former Disney star wore a silver voluminous top with matching pants, with clothes pins in her hair, which was pulled into a tight ponytail.

The 27-year-old singer spoke about her father’s death by suicide in 2011, how she deals with the trauma of her loss, as well as depression and mental health.

“I think it’s important to say this: I have had times in my life when I have been incredibly suicidal. And I think that needs to be destigmatized,” she said.

‘My father (died by) suicide. I’ve talked about that a lot.’

Candid: The singer, 27, spoke about her father’s death and how she dealt with the trauma of her loss, as well as depression and mental health; seen at the MTV Video Music Awards on September 12, 2023

“And if we could be more open about suicide and mental health, I think there would be so many people (who would say), ‘Hey, I don’t think there’s any other option. Can you show me it’s there?”

Her father – Philip Alan Hosterman – died by suicide in 2011 when Dove was 15 years old.

After his death, star-born Chloe Celeste Hosterman changed her legal name to Dove, which was his nickname for her.

The actress revealed that she has been in therapy since she was eight years old, after her childhood best friend was murdered by her father.

In 2019, her Descendants co-star and close friend Cameron Boyce died at the age of 20 due to an epileptic seizure – an ongoing medical condition that he had to treat.

Cameron talked about a word people have used to describe her over the years: “resilient,” and that being given that label now doesn’t empower her anymore.

Her father: Her father – Philip Alan Hosterman – died by suicide in 2011 when Dove was 15 years old; she shared a sweet tribute to him in 2016

Candid: The actress revealed she has been in therapy since she was eight years old – after her childhood best friend was murdered by her father

‘Over time it began to become powerless. It’s like, ‘So many things have been done to you, but look what you’ve done to them!'” she said.

‘It’s the pressure to always be okay, to survive. I was just so tired of the look people gave me when they said how resilient I was.”

Dove prefers the word “alchemical” because “you are the doer.”

She has the word tattooed on both her shoulders: one in English and one in Hindustani.

The star spent a lot of time in India as a child due to her parents’ work.

Cameron, who became a household name in the 2015 Disney film Descendants, named her upcoming debut album Alchemical.

The artist says she imagines bad things in her house as talismans that she eats and becomes better and bigger, instead of pushing them away and letting them loom over her head.

“Rather than them being something done to me; I survived something, I was now in the driver’s seat,” she told the outlet.

“I was someone who had all these experiences in my nervous system, in my mind, (and) in my blood, and I could do with them whatever I wanted. I could release them. I could make something beautiful out of it,” she said.

From the heart: “Instead of them being something done to me; I survived something, I was now in the driver’s seat,” she told the outlet

The Boyfriend singer chose the word Alchemical for her debut album because it has become her ‘guiding principle’ and her mantra.

Telling the magazine, “I accept this huge blow, I accept this death, I accept this loss, I accept this breakup, I accept this trauma; it’s a part of me now. I don’t reject it, because then I reject parts of myself.’

‘And now I’m moving on and my life is bigger and more expansive. I don’t recommend that you pressure yourself to live your life that way because some days it’s really damn hard. But it’s my mantra.’