Country star Luke Combs opens up about living with 'wicked' OCD condition known as Pure O
Country superstar Luke Combs opened up about his experience living with purely obsessional obsessive-compulsive disorder, informally known as Pure O, in a recent interview with 60 Minutes Australia.
Combs, 35, has struggled with the condition since he was 12-years-old. He experienced his 'worst flare-up' of mental compulsions in years while in Australia on tour in January and described how this subset of OCD affects him.
'It's thoughts, essentially, that you don't want to have," he explained last month. "And then they cause you stress, and then you're stressed out, and then the stress causes you to have more of the thoughts, and then you don't understand why you're having them, and you're trying to get rid of them, but trying to get rid of them makes you have more of them.'
The singer and songwriter describes the condition as "particularly wicked," as his intrusive thoughts are sometimes violent.
"I just have to accept that they're happening and then just go, 'Whatever, dude. It's happening. It's whatever,'" he said. "It's weird, sucks, hate it, drives me crazy, but … the less that you worry about why you're having the thoughts, eventually they go away.'
After more than two decades of managing the condition, Combs has learned how to navigate its challenges. He considers himself 'lucky' to be an 'expert' in getting through episodes, but acknowledged how overwhelming they can be.
'When it hits, man, it can be all-consuming,' Combs said. "If you have a flare up of it ... you could think about it 45 seconds of every minute for weeks."
Looking ahead, Combs is no longer afraid of his condition and hopes to use his platform to support others facing similar struggles.
'I definitely want to spend some time at some point in my life doing some outreach to kids that deal with this," he said. "Because it held me back so many times in my life where you're trying to accomplish something, you're doing really great and then you have a flare up and it just ruins your whole life for six months ... and then you're back to where you started'
Despite the challenges, Combs wants others to know that the condition does not have to define them.
'The message is if there's someone out there that's struggling with it, it's possible to continue to live your life, and be really successful, and have a great family, and achieve your dreams, while also dealing with things that you don't want to be dealing with.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Daily Mail
Diddy makes desperate move to have case tossed over claims he dangled fashion designer off 17-story balcony
Diddy has made a desperate move to have his case tossed out again, as his defense argued against claims that the rap mogul dangled a fashion designer off a balcony. On Saturday, Diddy's legal team filed a letter requesting the trial be dismissed following a testimony from Combs' ex-girlfriend Cassie' s friend and fashion designer, Bryana Bongolan. Bongolan claimed the rap mogul had held her over the edge of a balcony, 17 stories high. Combs' lawyers have argued that the prosecution knowingly allowed the false testimony to be given. Diddy's defense argued, however, that a series of texts from Cassie to Kristina Khorram, one of the rap mogul's employees, indicated she hadn't witnessed the incident, TMZ reported. The text which said, 'I just found out some crazy s***,' indicated to the defense that she had heard of the alleged incident through another source and had not seen it first hand. The defense also cited images shown by prosecutors of Bongolan's injuries from the alleged incident. Bongolan had testified that after Diddy had allegedly held her over the balcony, that he threw her into some furniture. The photographs of the injuries, including bruises on her leg as well as neck injuries, were proven to have been taken on September 26, 2016. Diddy's defense, however, argued that he was on the East Coast and couldn't have committed anything he was accused of on September 26. Prosecutors later clarified that Cassie's text message indicated it occurred later in the week, around September 29 or 30, TMZ reported. Bongolan had sued the rap mogul for $10million last year, accusing him of sexual battery and physical abuse. Her lawsuit claimed Combs molested and attacked her at Cassie Ventura's Los Angeles apartment in 2016 after one of his notorious 'freak off' parties. She claimed Diddy force-fed her ecstasy and during a photoshoot told her 'I'm the mother******g devil. I could kill you.' Bongolan alleged she suffered the near-death experience on the balcony on September 26, 2016, after one of the rapper's sex marathons. She was not involved in the freak off party that allegedly happened just before the incident, her complaint states. Bongolan and her then-girlfriend were sleeping in a bedroom of Ventura's apartment when an intoxicated Diddy stormed in after 'violently' banging on the door, the lawsuit alleges. She allegedly hid on the balcony, only for Combs to storm over to her, roughly grab her and grope her breasts as she tried to fight him off and tell him to leave, she claimed. He held her over the edge of the balcony under her arms and lifted her on to the banister, while screaming, 'Do you know what the f*** you did?' over and over, the lawsuit claimed. Ventura heard the commotion, came out of her locked bedroom and screamed at Diddy to stop. But as Ventura tried to calm him down, Combs allegedly slammed Bongolan against the balcony furniture. Ventura, who took to the witness stand last week, recounted the violence during her own testimony at Combs' trial. Diddy has denied that the incident ever took place. Bongolan's lawsuit further included stories she heard while working with Combs, including that he threatened to blow up rapper Kid Cudi's car after he slept with Ventura. Her complaint also featured a rumor that Diddy previously 'skinned a rival's dog', although she admitted she did not know if there was any truth to the story. This is the second call for a mistrial after Diddy's defense team tried to argue that the line of questioning surrounding the destruction of fingerprint evidence related to the Molotov cocktail bombing of Kid Cudi's car implied Combs could buy his way out of trouble. Prosecutors had asked Los Angeles Fire Department arson investigator Lance Jimenez if the evidence had been destroyed and who might have authorized its destruction. 'They were trying to plan this idea to these jurors that Mr. Combs authorized this,' defense Attorney Alexandra Shapiro said, People reported. Judge Arun Subramanian denied the motion to throw out the trial and ruled that the questions had not been prejudicial. The jury was then ordered not to consider the questions about the fingerprints. A ruling on the new request for a mistrial is yet to be made.
BreakingNews.ie
3 days ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Ex-girlfriend of Sean Combs tells court of Las Vegas ‘hotel night'
A recent ex-girlfriend of singer Sean 'Diddy' Combs returned to the witness stand on Friday in his sex trafficking trial. The woman using the pseudonym 'Jane' previously testified that he pressured her into drug-fuelled sex marathons similar to those described by another former girlfriend, R&B singer Casandra 'Cassie' Ventura. Advertisement Jane is among several witnesses at the trial — now at the end of its fourth week — who accuse Combs of violence, including Cassie. Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to running his business empire as a racketeering enterprise that enabled and concealed the abuse of women across two decades. If convicted, he faces 15 years in jail to life imprisonment. On Friday, prosecutors questioned Jane about sexual subjects, beginning with a 2023 trip to Las Vegas where Jane said she and Combs had a 'hotel night' with an 'entertainer'. Assistant US Attorney Maurene Comey asked if Combs ever used the word 'freak'. Advertisement Jane said he would say 'he wants his freak' and that she understood that to mean 'he wanted me to be wild and sexual'. Her description of 'hotel nights' has closely paralleled Cassie's earlier testimony about numerous 'freak-offs' she had with male sex workers under Combs' direction. Jane said during her first day of testimony on Thursday that she repeatedly told Combs, in person and in writing, that she did not want to have sex with other men. But Combs, who paid her rent and controlled other parts of her life, kept pressuring her and she felt 'obligated' to take part in the 'hotel nights', she said. Advertisement
Metro
3 days ago
- Metro
Diddy accused of raping Austrian TV reporter when she tried to book an interview
Sean 'Diddy' Combs has been accused of raping TV reporter Kathi Steininger as she tried to secure an interview The 55-year-old music artist is facing charges of racketeering, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution, to which Combs has denied all allegations against him. His trial began last month in New York, with his ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, and Kid Cudi among those who have taken the stand so far. Austrian present Steininger has claimed in an interview that she was raped by the rapper when she was 19 years old. She organised an on-camera interview with Combs in March 2000 following his show at Vienna's Libro Music Hall, she told PULS 24, claiming that during the chat she was separated from her cameraman and handed a drink by Combs. She alleges the drink was drugged, and that her next memory from the event was being in the back of a tour bus being raped by the musician. 'There was 100 percent something in it,' she told the publication. 'I would never have gone to bed with that man.' Steininger claims she could not move or cry for help, and after the alleged attack, she felt too 'ashamed' to tell anyone about her experience. She also said that the attack left her unable to work and with post-traumatic stress disorder. 'You should hold those who did this to you accountable. Others should be ashamed,' she said. She alleges she was going to take the stand as part of his ongoing trial, but that, as her claims are outside of the statute of limitations and they were not in the US, she could not. The publication reports that a spokeswoman for the Vienna public prosecutor's office said whether there will be investigations against Combs in Austria will be dependent on the outcome of his current trial in the US. It comes after Combs was threatened with being removed from the courtroom yesterday after he 'vigorously nodded' at jurors. Multiple outlets reported that he has been threatened with expulsion from the court for seemingly attempting to 'interact' with jurors. Speaking to Comb's attorney, the judge Subramanian said in court: 'Mr Agnifilo, your client was looking at jurors and nodding vigorously. 'This can't continue, or I will give a limiting instruction you won't like, or other measures, including barring your client from the courtroom. Do you understand?' More Trending Defence attorney Marc Agnifilo told the judge that it would not happen again. The judge then added: 'There should be no efforts whatsoever to have an interaction with this jury.' This comes just days after a screaming woman was removed from the trial after an explicit outburst. Metro has contacted representatives for Sean Combs for comment . Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Jennifer Lopez already tipped for an Oscar after Kiss of the Spider Woman trailer MORE: Oscar-winner's daughter slammed for calling her wealthy life a 'bore' MORE: Katy Perry nearly plunges headfirst into crowd in terrifying stage blunder
