Dove Cameron opens up about ‘major phone anxiety’ following family tragedy

The personal reasons behind Dove Cameron's "major phone anxiety" have been exposed in a revealing episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast. Dove, a singer and actress best known for her roles in the Disney Channel series Descendants and Liv and Maddie, was a guest on the show, where she opened up to host Alex Cooper about the traumatic events that have led to her fear of the telephone.

Dove Cameron reveals she has ‘major phone anxiety’ after finding out her dad died by suicide on a call

Dove was only 15 years old when she learned of the death of her father, Philip Alan Hosterman, who took his own life. She remembered the chilling moment when a family friend messaged her while her mother was out, asking her mother to call a relative as soon as possible. Even before the news was confirmed, Dove said she felt a chill run down her spine, explaining that she just "knew" it wasn’t a normal conversation.

When her mother finally came home and made the call, they received news that Philip was "no longer with us." Dove remembered the physical sensation of the trauma she experienced, describing a "severe" panic attack and feeling as if she was completely out of control.

"I have major phone anxiety, I think, because of stuff like this," Dove explained, noting that all three of the significant losses in her life have been delivered via a phone call.

The singer, who is known for her work in Descendants and Schmigadoon!, thinks that the telephone is a trigger for the "most out of control feeling" that a person can experience.

Dove is now in her 30s and is trying to "revisit, reorient, and reorganize" the traumas that she had been ignoring in the past by immersing herself in her work. Dove has said that the process of making her first album, Alchemical Vol. 1, was an "emotional spring-cleaning" in which she had to look at the contents of her "attic," or the memories and pain that she had been storing away for so long.

Through writing about her experiences, Dove wants to break down the stigma that exists around mental health. Dove has spoken in the past about the "shame and stigma" of feeling suicidal and is now trying to build a life and a community outside of her work.

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