Country singer Luke Combs recently got candid about living with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
The 35-year-old North Carolina native — who performed with Tracy Chapman in February 2024 — has suffered from the condition, abbreviated as OCD, since he was 12-years-old.
His worst episode happened in January while he was on an international tour.
Speaking with 60 Minutes Australia, he opened up about how his particular condition, ‘pure O,’ affects his day-to-day life.
‘It’s thoughts, essentially, that you don’t want to have,’ he said, adding that the thoughts can turn into a downward spiral.
Country singer Luke Combs recently got candid about living with obsessive-compulsive disorder; pictured in November
‘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 explained.
He noted that at times the thoughts are violent, making the struggle ‘particularly wicked.’
‘I just have to accept that they’re happening and then just go, “Whatever, dude. It’s happening. It’s whatever,”‘ he relayed about how it feels to go through a flare-up.
‘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,’ the star shared.
Throughout his more than 20 years with the uncomfortable disorder, Combs has learned coping mechanisms.
He now considers himself an ‘expert’ on combating the tumultuous phases.
‘When it hits, man, it can be all-consuming. If you have a flare-up of it… you could think about it 45 seconds of every minute for weeks,’ Combs said.
He’s hopeful that in the future he can use his experience to help others going through the same thing.
Luke accepted the CRS 2025 Artist Humanitarian Award on February 21
Luke hit the stage with legendary singer Tracy Chapman at the 2024 Grammys, where they performed a duet of her song Fast Car
‘I definitely want to spend some time at some point in my life doing some outreach to kids that deal with this,’ the father-of-two 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,’ he reflected.
Combs wants to spread the message that obsessive-compulsive disorder does not have to define those who have it.
‘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.’
Luke married his wife Nicole in August 2020 and they share sons Tex, two, and Beau, one.
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