Camila Cabello isn't holding back much anymore about her and Shawn Mendes' romance: She'll say she "really, really love[s] him a lot" on the radio, and she'll talk to The Sun's Dan Wootton about her anxiety when she first started to date him. It was a gamble of their years-long friendship, and Cabello won't pretend she wasn't a little afraid.

“It’s almost more scary because you have more to lose," she said. "When you first start dating a person and you know nothing about them, there’s less at risk there. I think when you fall in love with somebody you’ve known for a long time, there’s more at stake."

"But it also feels more special because it feels like the love story you see in the movies of people who have known each other for a long time but been too stupid to realize it or say it and then it happens—and that’s beautiful too,” she added.

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Cabello and Mendes first got close four years ago when working on their duet "I Know What You Did Last Summer," and the singer admitted that she was always attracted to him. “Definitely there were feelings, but I think we were just too young to know what to do with them,” she said.

What made Cabello ready to try dating Mendes now—besides just Mendes and Cabello both being single at the same time—was her deep appreciation of Mendes' good heart. “The thing I’ve always loved about Shawn so much is that he just radiates this goodness,” she said. “He’s always been so kind.”

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Alyssa Bailey
Senior News and Strategy Editor

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.