Long before she was making headlines for exiting Fifth Harmony, Camila Cabello was just a little girl with a big dream. The singer, 20, and her mom, Sinuhe, recalled making their inspiring journey from Cuba to America during an interview with Glamour magazine published on Wednesday, April 5.
“We flew from Cuba to Mexico, and went by bus to the American border; it took a month,” Sinuhe told the magazine. “We left everyone behind, my friends, my family. My fear was that my husband wouldn’t [ever] be able to come.”
Camila, who brought with her just one doll her mom had found her at a flea market, shared that she was “very introverted” as a child and that making friends in a new country was difficult.
“I started bringing my CDs to the YMCA after school; I’d ask for the boom box and go play my music in the corner and people would come over,” the “Work From Home” songstress recalled. “And I created a little YouTube channel doing covers — I must have posted 50. Even though I’d be like, ‘Oh my God, this is so bad,’ music was the thing I was passionate enough about to get over being shy. After seeing a One Direction ‘tips on auditioning for The X Factor (USA)’ video, I asked Mom if I could audition.”
Camila, along with her former Fifth Harmony members, got their big break after forming their girl group on the second season of The X Factor (USA) in July 2012. In December 2016, she shocked fans and allegedly her bandmates by announcing her departure.
“I have never met someone who can confront her fears in the way she does,” her mom told the magazine. “I can tell she’s terrified, but she doesn’t stop. She always asks me, ‘Do you think everybody knows [I’m scared]?’ And I’m like, ‘No, nobody can tell.’”
