As an actor, duality is a great thing to have. As a celebrity, not so much. “People tend to split you down the middle,” she says. “It’s like, ‘But you were this, and now you’re that. You’re blonde again and you’re dating a guy, so you are not queer. And now you have brown hair, so you’re goth, but you’re not wearing makeup, but you’re goth.’”
There’s another strange assumption made among her followers, Cameron says, that her recent return to brown hair signifies a mental health issue of some sort. The reality is far less scintillating. “People are always like, ‘Oh no, she’s brunette, she’s sad again.’ This time when I dyed my hair dark, it was purely because I needed to stop bleaching it,” she explains. “It’s got to stop chopping itself off. It has to grow.”
In fact, Cameron may now be happier than ever—personally and professionally. “I’ve stepped into myself more as a human. I have subsequently stepped more into myself as an actor,” she says. “I think it’s really aided my work.” On top of that, she’s engaged to Italian musician Damiano David. “I am madly in love. I’m getting married. I found the person that I want to be with,” she says.
But her happiness, she wants you to know, isn’t solely the result of falling in love. “I feel like I was always treading towards this beautiful period in my life, and I just wasn’t ready—rejecting goodness, rejecting love—because I was in such a bad spot for so many years,” Cameron recalls. “The only reason I was able to find this chapter is because I stepped away from the public eye for a while. I really did the work, reading the books, going to therapy, crying, writing, spending time alone. Doing things that were strictly to get back into my body.”
Cameron has been “excavating” herself, she says, and it’s paying off in unimaginable ways. “I’m entering 30 feeling, finally, like myself.” In her conversation with Allure, she digs into what that means.
Allure: You will have just turned 30 by the time this interview comes out.
Dove: Can you believe?
Allure: Do you ever worry about getting or looking older in an industry that’s so youth-obsessed?
Dove: Funny enough, no. I’m going to look different, and that’s okay. I would be so lucky to look like I’m 50 when I’m 50. The roles that I want to play are going to be really good when I’m in my 50s. All the best roles are written for women in their 30s, 40s, and 50s.
