Lili Reinhart Opens up about Mental Health and Dealing With Heartbreak

“Riverdale” actress Lili Reinhart recently opened up about her mental health struggles and what it’s like dealing with heartbreak post a breakup. Best known for her role as Betty Cooper on the wickedly popular CW series, Riverdale, Reinhart shared an on and off relationship for nearly three years with her Riverdale Co-star, Cole Sprouse.

Lili and Cole’s relationship has been the subject of much speculation ever since the two co-stars were first linked back in 2017. They’ve had their fair share of breakup and cheating rumors, only to end up back together. However, in May earlier this year, things seemed to have ended for good between the pair. An Insider source revealed, ‘Cole and Lili split before the pandemic hit, and have been quarantining separately. They remain good friends.’ 

Although Reinhart never named Sprouse explicitly, she talked to Refinery29 about how she spent the last few months healing from “heartache and grief and breakups.” How it felt like a “black tunnel [that] was never going to end.” And how she learned that sometimes the only way out is through. 

“I was like, I feel like I’m dying”

“I couldn’t see the light, I was like, I feel like I’m dying. It was f*cking rough, and there’s no other way through it than just through it,” Lili told Refinery29. The actress shared that she’s seen others deal with heartbreak by trying to fill the void it leaves with unhealthy substances. Or other less-than-great coping mechanisms. However, she has decided to just feel the pain. “I took the road less traveled and just dealt with my sh*t. I had to face my own pain head-on.”

“Please take the pain away for a day, a second, an hour”

The 23 year old actress revealed that she has also been dealing with love withdrawal. Lili went on to share some insight from her therapist, who told her that going through a breakup can trigger a withdrawal of “happy chemicals.”

“The last couple of months have probably [been] the most emotional few months of my entire life, and my therapist [told] me, ‘Your body’s going through withdrawal from love,’” she revealed. “‘You’re used to having this exchange of happy chemicals between you and the person that you’re with.” The actress continued, “In moments of my life, I have dropped every ounce of pride that I had just to be like, Love me. Please take the pain away for a day, a second, an hour, just so I can feel that fix again.”

Lili also touched upon how her battle with depression began as a teenager while struggling to find acting work and “being told no.” “When I first moved to L.A., my anxiety was so bad that I was throwing up every night”, she said.

“I’ve gone out of my way to try to better myself as a human being”

While the pandemic and being isolated could have been a worse situation, Lili instead used the time to look inward and evolve, through her creative outlets.

“I’ve made a point to make this time in my life, this pandemic, this quarantine helpful for me in some way,” she confessed. “I very much have looked inward and really worked on myself and I can feel myself having grown a lot. Even just the way I’m thinking is different and I’m less judgmental and I’m more open to meeting new people. I’ve gone out of my way to try to better myself as a human being.”

New Book and New Movie?

In the interview Reinhart also talks about making herself super vulnerable by publishing her first poetry book, Swimming Lessons. Which is scheduled to come out at the end of September.

However, the actress revealed she is apprehensive about people interpreting the book as her spilling details about her relationship. “I felt the need to write that because I was scared. And I am scared that people are going to try and create their own idea of what my love life looked or looks like,” she said. “I’m not saying, ‘My boyfriend f**ked another woman’. I’m saying, ‘I felt betrayed’.” Lili will be next seen starring in the upcoming movie, Chemical Hearts. An achingly tender teen drama, which will be streaming August 21 on Amazon.

Following her interview going public, Reinhart recently took to Twitter to clarify, that comments made in her Refinery29 story were not addressing a specific breakup. She insisted it was about her mental health and depression instead.