After Sabrina Carpenter Discourse, Shawn Mendes Says He and Ex Camila Cabello Still ‘Protect Each Other’

Shawn Mendes says he doesn’t really care how you feel about his on-again, off-again relationship with Camilla Cabello—but that doesn’t mean he’ll stop singing about it.

While promoting his upcoming album, Shawn, the singer addressed the “brutal” experience of breaking up and briefly rekindling his romance with Camila Cabello in the public eye—and while he did not discuss his alleged situationship with Sabrina Carpenter—which many fans believe inspired much of her album, Short n’ Sweet—it’s fair to assume the ongoing discourse has been difficult to ignore.

“I think Camila and I have just done the best job at preserving our private little fire of love for each other,” he said of his famous ex during a lengthy recent appearance on the podcast On Purpose with Jay Shetty. “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, and to be swayed by it, and to be inspired by it, and to desire it because people desire it, or to hate it because people hate it, and it’s just human. And I feel like her and I have just like worked extremely hard to just protect each other, and protect that love, you know, and I learned a lot about that.”

Part of that requires staying off of social media, Mendes told Shetty. “I don’t really see or care what people say about my love life or my relationships because it’s just, it’s honestly too detrimental to the actual relationship itself that I’ve become pretty strict on that part of it, you know, but it’s crazy, man,” he said. “This is not a movie.”

He continued, “This is real life. This is real love, and love is confusing and hard and goes through dips and goes through pauses, goes through breaks, goes through so much. And so, I really feel for everyone who goes through that, you know. I just feel like as a celebrity, I just want to just come at it and be really truthful from the place of, this is what love is like for me, you know.”