Luke Combs has opened up about his ongoing battle with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, revealing the profound impact the condition has on his daily life and dismissing any notion that it contributes positively to his career success.
During a candid conversation on Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, the country music star addressed misconceptions about OCD, stating firmly: “I don’t think it’s part of my success at all. If I just never had it that would be awesome. There’s no good parts of it other than when you don’t have it.”
Combs experiences a specific form known as “Pure O” or primarily obsessional OCD, characterised by intrusive thoughts and relentless anxiety rather than visible compulsive behaviours. He described the mental spiral using a vivid analogy: “It’s like a bird flying by. You just go, ‘Oh, there’s a bird,’ and then you’re like, ‘What was that bird? Why did that bird fly by?’ And then the more you wonder why the flew by, the more it starts flying by.”
The musician explained how his brain perpetuates these thought patterns, creating an exhausting cycle of worry and rumination. “Your brain’s like, ‘I need to send that thought again, because you’re worried about it and you being worried about it must mean something.’ Really, it doesn’t mean anything. Then the more you think about it, the more it starts showing up.”
Initially diagnosed with Generalised Anxiety Disorder as a teenager, Combs felt the diagnosis didn’t fully capture his experience. “Once I found the Pure O thing, it was like, ‘Oh my God, this is what I have,'” he reflected, describing the relief of finally understanding his condition.
The disorder manifests in particularly challenging ways regarding his personal relationships, causing what he terms “relationship OCD.” “One of the themes of Pure O is like, ‘Do I really love my wife? Do I really love my kids?'” he explained. “And obviously you do. You wouldn’t be worried about it if you didn’t.”
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Combs has developed a comprehensive understanding of how OCD preys on his deepest insecurities. “It preys on everything you’re not, and it makes you feel like you are that. In some ways, your deepest fear is being something that you’re not. That’s rooted in this somehow.”
Watch Combs’ full interview with Shepard above.
