Dove Cameron says she’s ready to take “huge risks” with her career

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Dove Cameron has played up being the fun, wholesome girl next door, but now she’s embracing her inner villain, and she says it took her a long time to feel comfortable with who she is and what she wants to do.

Speaking to InStyle, the singer opened up about dealing with “a lot of trauma” when she was younger, from entering the industry when she was a kid to losing her father to suicide at a young age. Further compounding that was the sudden death of her Descendents co-star Cameron Boyce in 2019.

Dove said she leaned into her career to cope, revealing, “I actually used the entertainment industry as a place of control and validation and structure… I grew up in chaos; when someone else ran the show, I felt safer. And that’s what I needed at the time — to feel safe.”

Things are different now and the singer is excited for what’s to come. “I’ve been taking huge risks with writing and music and [film],” she continued. “I’ve been doing my own music video treatments, taking more charge of my career, and experimenting a lot with self-styling in terms of fashion.”

Dove also credits coming out as queer in 2020 for helping her take control of her life, adding, “It led to finding more pieces of myself.”  

The Vengeance star enjoys embracing her dark side and hinted it is “sort of a superpower” of hers. In “Boyfriend,” she flirts with stealing another man’s girlfriend, while in “Breakfast,” she hints no boys are safe around her.

“I always knew I was strange growing up,” she disclosed, “I would pretend to be Lydia in Beetlejuice when I was 8! I knew I was weird. Now, I know it’s to my advantage.”

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