A detailed Break down of Shawn Mendes’ Relationships

Shawn Mendes is a Canadian singer who became an international sensation by posting song covers on the now-defunct Vine. Mendes’ guitar skill and angelic voice saw his popularity soar on social media, prompting Island Records to offer him a recording contract. Shawn immediately delivered on his star potential, with his first album debuting at number one on the US Billboard 200.

Mendes broke record after record as more people around the world fell in love with him and his music. It wasn’t long before Shawn became a sex symbol complete with dreamy eyes, wavy hair, a toned body, a humorous personality, and boundless talent. Inevitably, Shawn’s love life has become the subject of intense interest.

This piece will look at Shawn Mendes’ dating history.

Shawn and Camila met while they were both on tour with Austin Mahone. The pair talked to V Magazine about their first impressions of each other. Camila remembered that Shawn stuck to himself playing the guitar, while Shawn gushed about Camila’s conversational skills. The Mercy hitmaker also revealed that he was in awe of Camila’s ‘insane’ stunts. “I’d be looking through the [tour bus] window and I’d see you like, flying around on a scooter and jumping and doing cartwheels,” Shawn said.

In 2015, the pair wrote their song I Know What You Did Last Summer together, and they’ve been inseparable ever since. However, for a long while, the couple denied that they were dating. It wasn’t until July 2019 that they confirmed that they were boyfriend and girlfriend. Shawn recently revealed that he had feelings for Camila for five years before he gathered the courage to ask her out. He told Access Hollywood:

“It takes a lot of courage to tell the woman that you love her. I had five years of fear of getting rejected by her that just stopped me from doing it every time – or just confidence. I think, you know, it just took a lot. I took a lot of time of preparing. I mean, I had a five-year warm up to finally be able to tell her how I felt.”

Shawn and Camilla’s public relationship was once rumored to be a publicity stunt. The reports suggested that the couple got together to promote sales of their steamy single Senorita. However, in an interview at LAX airport, Shawn denied the rumors. “We’re definitely not a publicity stunt,” he said.

Shawn and Hailey go back to the time when they were both trying to establish themselves on Vine. In October 2013, Hailey sent Shawn a tweet that read: “Hey Shawn Mendes, let’s date so you can sing to me all day. I’m joking but not really.”

Four years later, Shawn and Hailey caused an internet frenzy when they were spotted together at a Halloween party. The duo fueled the relationship rumors by walking the 2018 Met Gala red carpet together. However, Shawn told People that they were just friends:

“No, we were not making our big debut. We were both asked to walk by Tommy Hilfiger. Obviously Hailey and I are friends, and it was just really cool for me to be able to walk with her because she’s a vet and it was my first year, so it kind of took the pressure off a little bit.”

Hailey ended up getting engaged to Justin Bieber several months later. After the engagement, Shawn admitted that he and Hailey had been more than just friends. However, he didn’t state outright whether they were dating, preferring instead to describe their relationship as ‘a zone of limbo.’ Mendes told Rolling Stone that he was happy for Hailey and Bieber, but he feels like he could have done more to keep her around. He said:

“She’s still one of the fucking coolest people ever – she’s not just a beautiful person visually, but she’s one of the most beautiful hearts I’ve ever met. I think I’m an idiot to not, you know… But you can’t control your heart.”

In 2017, Shawn admitted that he had a girlfriend for two years, and that he’d written songs based on the relationship he had with his mystery lover. After some investigation, fans concluded that Shawn was in a relationship with his former prom date Lauren Arendse. It’s unclear whether this rumor is true as Mendes never addressed the speculation.

That same year, Shawn admitted to hooking up with a 25-year-old when he was only 19. A year before, he’d told Billboard that the song Patience was about a fling he had with an older girl. It was clear that he was talking about the same girl in both interviews. “It is about a girl older than me who I hooked up with, but the next day was so scared because of how young I was,” Mendes said. “I have a sore spot for older people who are weird around younger people.”

Shawn frustratingly fell short of identifying this older woman. Mendes has been in his fair share of relationship, but he revealed that he is yet to endure the pain of heartbreak. It was quite a startling confession from a person who brings out heartbreak so vividly in his music. Shawn told Fernanda Catania that proper heartache would probably benefit his music:

“I have mildly [suffered for love], not as much as I make it sound like. I need to get my heart broken so I can write another album. I don’t think I’ve ever had my heart broken. I’m lucky, but that means it has to happen. But that’s good, I can’t wait for it to happen because I’ll probably get some good songs out of it.”

In 2016, Mendes and Chloe sparked dating rumors after exchanging flirtatious messages on Twitter. Chloe started the interaction after reacting to a handsome photo of Mendes. However, the duo’s online flirting didn’t lead to anything in real life.

In March 2013, Mendes posted the following tweet: @AndreaRussett would you be my girlfriend? Six years later, the YouTuber replied with, “OK, fine!” alongside a kissy face emoji. Like with Chloe, Andrea and Shawn’s innocent flirting didn’t lead to a relationship.

Despite exclusively dating women, Mendes couldn’t avoid gay rumors. He told Rolling Stone that he felt pressure to step out with a woman to dispel the rumors, and he hated that there was part of him that felt the need to actively deny the reports. He then spoke about it on Snapchat, criticizing people who use sexuality as an insult. The 22-year-old said:

“Now I’m not frustrated because people were saying that I was gay at all, I have no problem with that ‘cause it wouldn’t make a difference to me. I’m frustrated because in this day and age people have the audacity to write online that I’m gay as if it was a bad thing… I just wish those one percent of people would grow up.”

Mendes’ perfect girl is the one who constantly makes him laugh. He stated at the 2017 American Music Awards that humor is the first thing he looks for in a woman. He then told Notion magazine that he is attracted to brunettes and dancers. Mendes said:

“I really like funny girls, girls with a witty sense of humor. So if someone is able to catch on what I am saying very quickly, I find that very attractive. I really like brunettes… And also, dancers! I have a thing for dancers.”