Camila Mendes Confesses It Was 'Hard' Working Alongside Ex Charles Melton on “Riverdale” After Split

The pair dated on-and-off from 2018 to 2021 while starring on the hit CW series

Camila Mendes is opening up about her relationship with her Riverdale costar Charles Melton, whom she dated on-and-off for three years while they starred together on The CW show.

Mendes, 29, admitted on Monday's episode of Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard that it was "hard" to work with Melton, 33, during the gaps in their relationship, which spanned several seasons.

“We dated for a year and then broke up for about a year and then got back together for about a year," she recalled of the relationship, which began in 2018 after Melton joined the show in season 2.

The second time around, they dated for "like seven months," she said, and the pandemic played a major role in their rekindling. "It’s ‘cause it was COVID, that was a big catalyst. We broke up and then [it was] COVID and then the show was down for a long time so there was that big separation."

When they came back to film season 6, they were "both in other relationships," she continued, referring to her relationship with Grayson Vaughan, "but then, naturally, the two of us got out of our own relationships — not knowing the other did."

"And we’re in lockdown, we can’t leave Vancouver.... And it’s, like, 'Maybe second time's the charm?' Maybe this time it will be different.”

Related: All About the 'Riverdale' Cast: From Upcoming Roles to Off-Screen Relationships

With the on-and-off loves' characters frequently romantically involved on the show, Mendes admitted that it was tough to work with Melton "in the beginning" after their initial breakup, but she said she thinks she's "good" at handling separations — and "good at keeping things professional."

"Obviously, right when it happened, it’s hard and it’s emotional," she continued. "It’s the worst. But it’s hard because the timing of the show — it was jokes — because it was like, any time we started to hook up off set and knew that something was brewing, our characters would start dating. But they didn’t know. No one knew. The writers just would naturally make it happen.”

When she and the May December star finally called it quits, it was "mutual."

“It ended very peacefully and ‘wish you all the best,'" she said. "But it still hurts, no matter what."

Related: Oscar Hopeful Charles Melton Calls Riverdale 'Truly My Juilliard'

Once it came time for Riverdale's seventh and final season, "there was definitely like an air of, ‘Zen, we’re past it.’ We worked together a lot as well but not in a romantic capacity," the actress shared.

“It went super smoothly last season. I think the whole last season felt very different in that way where we all really came together in the last season, case it’s like this is the last time we're all gonna be together in this room who knows when something like this will happen again."

Since her split from Melton, Mendes has begun dating Rudy Mancuso, whom she met while working on Prime Video's Música. "I obviously had a little crush, but I didn't know if it was just a work crush or if it was real," she told PEOPLE of the early days of her relationship with the musician. "And when I met him in person, it became very clear to me that it was real."

Melton has been linked to Bodies Bodies Bodies star Chase Sui Wonders and more recently to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. actress Chloe Bennet.

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Riverdale can be streamed in full on Netflix.

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