Luke Combs 'particularly wicked' OCD condition interrupts daily life | Fox News
===============

Entertainment

Luke Combs admits his struggle with 'obscure' mental health disorder can be ‘all-consuming’
============================================================================================

The ‘Fast Car’ singer first experienced a flare-up around 12 or 13 years old.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By  

Published March 10, 2025 2:43pm EDT

### RELATED TOPICS

- 
- 
- 

Luke Combs is sharing his struggles with obsessive-compulsive disorder, hoping to inspire others with the same condition.

"I do really well with it for the most part. It’s something in at least some way I think about every day," Combs told  in a recent interview.

"It’s really tedious to pull yourself out of it. It takes a lot of… you have to know what to do. I’m lucky to be an expert to know how to get out of it now."

According to the , obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD, is a disorder where people have uncontrollable and recurring thoughts or repetitive behaviors, or both. "Obsessions are repeated thoughts, urges, or mental images that are intrusive, unwanted, and make most people anxious," NIMH explains.

For Combs, "the variant I have is particularly wicked because there’s no outward manifestation of it."

> "It’s really tedious to pull yourself out of it… I’m lucky to be an expert to know how to get out of it now."

— Luke Combs

Combs explained that the physical actions, or compulsions, typically , like repeated flicking of light switches or other repetitive behaviors, are all happening internally.

"So for someone like myself, you don’t even know it’s going on."

But the 35-year-old has worked to manage his symptoms as they flare up.

"The way to get out of it is, like, it doesn’t matter what the thoughts even are. You giving any credence to what the thoughts are is, like, irrelevant and only fuels you having more of them," Combs said.

It’s learning to just go, ‘It doesn’t even matter what the thoughts are.’ Like, I just have to accept that they’re happening and then just go, ‘Whatever, dude. It’s happening. It’s whatever.’ It’s weird, sucks, hate it, drives me crazy, but then you just eventually… the less that you worry about why you’re having the thoughts, eventually they go away."

The thoughts range from "intrusively violent thoughts" to thoughts about religion and himself, saying "it focuses on things that don’t have an answer."

Some of the thoughts Combs gets stuck on are "things that don’t have an answer," further fueling the flare-ups.



"That’s what fuels the anxiety is you can’t ever get an answer and you desperately want an answer for whatever this thing that’s bothering you is. But learning to \ it doesn’t matter what the answer is, is the freedom to just go, ‘I don’t have to have an answer to that question.’”

The  on stage, and "when it hits, man, it can be all-consuming."

Combs admitted that a "really bad flare-up" can last "45 seconds of every minute for weeks."

The "When It Rains It Pours" singer thinks he first experienced it at 12 or 13, and empathizes with kids going through similar experiences.

"It’s 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’s like… it just ruins your whole life for six months. And you’re back to where you started."

"I have the tools now… when it happens now, I’m not as afraid of it."

Combs hopes he can serve as an inspiration for others experiencing OCD and begin doing mental health outreach in the future.



Combs hopes to do  to others going through OCD, hoping his work to come out of flare-ups showcases that "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. That’s something I hope people take away from me regardless of my musical success."



Luke Combs recently opened up about his "obscure" form of OCD, which can give him repetitive and intrusive thoughts. (Getty Images)



"It’s 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’s like… it just ruins your whole life for six months. And you’re back to where you started."

"Is this what you’re living for? You’re just living your life to be successful? You’re living your life to be successful, but you’re living your life to be successful, but you’re living your life to be successful, but you’re living your life to be successful, but you’re living your life to be successful, but you’re living your life to be successful, but you’re living your life to be successful, but you’re living your life to be successful, but you’re living your life to be successful?" (Getty Images)





Combs said his "variant" of OCD doesn't have any behavioral manifestations, but instead is all internal, making it hard for people to know it's happening. (Cooper Neill/Getty Images)



Combs hopes to do  to others going through OCD, hoping his work to come out of flare-ups showcases that "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. That’s something I hope people take away from me regardless of my musical success."

Combs hopes to do  to others going through OCD, hoping his work to come out of flare-ups showcases that "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. That’s something I hope people take away from me regardless of my musical success."



Combs hopes to do  to others going through OCD, hoping his work to come out of flare-ups showcases that "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. That’s something I hope people take away from me regardless of my musical success."

Combs hopes to do  to others going through OCD, hoping his work to come out of flare-ups showcases that "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. That’s something I hope people take away from me regardless of my musical success."

Combs hopes to do  to others going through OCD, hoping his work to come out of flare-ups showcases that "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. That’s something I hope people take away from me regardless of my musical success."
```