Earlier this week, Shawn Mendes spoke to Jay Shetty about his relationship with his ex Camila Cabello, describing how being in the spotlight affected their dating life, breakup, and their brief reconciliation last year. They remain close, Mendes said, and he expanded on the nature of their relationship on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The singer replied to a post about how Mendes and Cabello “don’t play about each other.” Mendes commented, “no we don’t.”
That X user had been responding to a PopCrave tweet abut Mendes’s Shetty interview, specifically when he said: “I think Camila and I have just done the best job at preserving our private little fire of love for each other. 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…this is real love, and it’s confusing and hard. I’m just lucky. She is an amazing human being.”
Mendes added in another post to his fans, “guys i love you, being human is so complex and what travels around online isn’t even 5 percent of the picture.”
A fan also asked him to clarify what he meant in his “no we don’t” play tweet, so people online wouldn’t misconstrue his words. (At this point, both Mendes and Cabello are publicly single.)
“Here we go I can do that,” Mendes began. “I guess to be honest it came from a place of being a little annoyed with all the projection over the last few months about us. I’m usually pretty good at just watching all the ‘noise’ go by, but lately it’s been kinda bugging me feeling human I guess.” He may be referring to the discourse that Short n’ Sweet, the new album from his rumored ex Sabrina Carpenter, opened up about his relationships with her and Cabello.
He added in a second post, “and yeah part of me knows quoting a tweet and saying that is gunna start a little spin up, and I guess to be honest part of me just wanted to address it and actually have a real honest relationship with you guys about how it feels from my side. I also would love to know how it feels for you.”
At the end of his posts, he added that he appreciates that his fans are happy for him and excited for his new music. “That means so much to me,” he wrote. “My human just gets caught up in the drama sometimes.”
Carpenter and Mendes were briefly romantically linked last year, weeks before Mendes and Cabello explored rekindling their relationship in the spring. They ultimately decided to remain friends. Cabello spoke to Call Her Daddy this March about their relationship, saying their brief 2023 reconciliation was a “fun moment.”
“I will always care about him and love him. He’s such a good person,” she shared, per Billboard. “I’m lucky ’cause some people have exes who are awful, and he is not. He’s a really kind, good person.”
Breaking up again, “it wasn’t even like a decision,” she revealed. “I think you’re just kind of like, ‘Yeah this doesn’t really…it’s not a fit—it doesn’t feel right.’ Luckily, I was in a place in my life where…it took us both less time to be like, ‘This doesn’t feel right, and we don’t really need to try so hard to make it work. It’s all good, let’s move on.’”
Mendes and Cabello were last seen together this July at a Miami soccer game. A source told People at the time that “they were there coincidentally. She actually took her dad as her date.”
Alyssa Bailey is the senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). She previously held positions at InStyle and Cosmopolitan. When she’s not working, she loves running around Central Park, making people take #ootd pics of her, and exploring New York City.