Lili Reinhart From "Riverdale" Just Opened Up About Her Anxiety, Fame, Bughead, And More

"I had to get a brown paper bag and breathe into it, which felt so dramatic, but I really could not breathe. I felt like my world was crashing."

Lili Reinhart became an overnight success with her starring role as Riverdale's Betty Cooper. However, finally getting her big break was no easy feat.

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In a recent interview with W magazine, the actress got candid about her life before and after fame. Here's what we learned:

1. She had severe anxiety before being cast on Riverdale.

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"I had so much anxiety booking work, and I spent almost five months holed up in this bedroom in this house just feeling anxious, waiting for my next audition, and not doing anything else. It was the most miserable time of my life."

She continued:

I had had to quit a few jobs in North Carolina because of how anxious they made me. My anxiety was so bad that I had to keep quitting jobs because I physically could not work...I threw up in my Uber because, one, I was carsick, and two, I was having a panic attack. I get home, lock the door in my room, immediately Skype my mom and said, 'Mom, I’m not okay.' I had to get a brown paper bag and breathe into it, which felt so dramatic, but I really could not breathe. I felt like my world was crashing. I didn’t want to admit defeat, but I was like, ‘I need to come home. My mental health is suffering, and it is making me physically ill.’

2. She was cooking when she got the news that changed her life.

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"I was making myself a hotdog and pulling some curly fries out of the oven, and I got the call from manager, and she said, ‘You got it. You’re Betty Cooper.’ It felt so unreal. My friend was standing across from me, and when I put the phone down he said, ‘I literally just watched your life change.'"

3. Her fame was sudden and overwhelming.

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"The show took off in such a way that fame followed very quickly after, and it wasn’t really a smooth transition. It was just kind of like, ‘Bam.’ It wasn’t a bad thing, but all a sudden, I’m doing all these things and a year ago, I was just starting to film season one, and two years ago, I was living in North Carolina with my parents."

4. The first thing she noticed about her co-stars was how attractive they all were (because how could you not?).

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"I thought KJ was so hot, so charming. I had seen Cole and Camila at the studio test, and thought Cami was so beautiful. It's funny, I don’t really remember having an opinion on Cole, to be honest. Of course, I had grown up watching [The Suite Life] but I wasn’t really starstruck. He just seemed like this really attractive, normal guy."

5. She described Bughead in Season 2 as beautiful, intense, and heart-wrenching.

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"[There] are some really beautiful moments between them, but also really intense. Season two is kind of heart-wrenching. Betty is going through a traumatic situation, and your heart goes out to her, but you also see some new sides to her, which I’m super excited about. Season two definitely opens a door to showing different sides to all of these characters, and it is really beautiful to watch."

6. While she loves her fans, they can be a bit overzealous.

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"Fans feel like they know who we are. And they feel entitled to touch us or ask us personal questions, which people have. You would never walk up to a stranger and hug them. You would never walk up to a stranger and ask them who are they dating."

She continued:

But when people come up and ask for pictures, it's like, of course. And sometimes I am in a terrible mood, but I’ll still do it, and then I do feel like, ‘What if that fan experience was a let down for them and I wasn’t as exciting in person?’ But I am not Betty Cooper. I’m always going to try to be as happy and grateful to fans, but I’m also just trying to live my life. I don’t have an on switch all of the time. It's something that I am getting used to, or trying to. I don’t know how anyone can get used to that.

7. She owes everything to her support system, aka her parents.

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"My mom would drive me from Cleveland to New York City and use my dad’s hotel points for auditions. They were the most supportive parents that I could have. Without them, I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere. My mom would take off work to take me to auditions, because they believed in me, which is a very big leap of faith. Seeing it from their point of view, they must have been like, ‘Is my child even good at this?’ But they knew it brought me so much happiness."

8. Being persistent is what got her to where she is today.

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"I auditioned in person with a fresh take, and a fire under my ass that I hadn’t had before. I felt so close, and I had been so close to so many things before, that I didn’t want to let this one slip through."

She continued:

And I remember leaving the final audition and calling my manager, as I was driving towards the sunset, and saying, ‘I feel proud of myself for what I’ve done. Regardless of what happens, I feel happy and really at peace.’ And I truly felt that.

Congrats on all your success, Lili! Can't wait for next season.

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Read the full W interview here.