Dove Cameron opens up about her phone anxiety

Dove Cameron has revealed that she experiences “major phone anxiety” after receiving devastating news about her father’s death during a phone call when she was a teenager.

The 30-year-old singer and actress opened up about the trauma on the Wednesday, Feb. 4 episode of Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast, recalling the moment she learned that her father, Phil, had died by suicide when she was just 15.

Cameron said the news came only months after her father had visited her in Los Angeles. 

On the day of his death, a family friend reached out unexpectedly to ask whether Cameron’s mother was home, an interaction that immediately alarmed her.

“I just knew,” Cameron said. “I can’t tell you why I knew. But it was not a normal interaction. She had no reason to be talking to me.”

When her mother returned home, she called a family member who delivered the news. “He said my dad is no longer with us,” Cameron recalled.

The moment left a lasting imprint. “I had a panic attack because it’s the most out-of-control feeling you can have,” she said, adding, “All three of my big losses have come via phone call… But I have major phone anxiety, I think, because of stuff like this.”

Cameron vividly described her physical response to the news, saying she ran from the room and struggled to breathe. 

“You go into this animal mode,” she explained. “Fight, flight or freeze. You feel like you’re going to vomit your soul — I don’t know how else to describe it.”

The former Disney Channel star, known for her roles in Descendants and Schmigadoon!, has previously spoken about confronting unresolved trauma. 

In a 2023 interview with People, Cameron said she immersed herself in work at a young age as a way to cope, often neglecting her emotional well-being.

“I really didn’t construct a community, a life or anything outside of my job,” she said at the time, adding that her 20s forced her to reassess what she had ignored. 

“I had to go into the attic of all the stuff I hadn’t dealt with and go through it. It was really, really good for me as a human being.”