Cody Simpson: ‘I’m fearless because I can do things while being full of fear’

Cody Simpson talks fame and the point that turned his life around on the latest episode of the Mental As Anyone podcast.

Cody Simpson has conceded he once succumbed to the “trappings” and “temptations” of Hollywood before elite swimming provided him freedom from his stuck feeling.

Speaking on the latest episode of the Mental As Anyone podcast with journalist Jonathon ‘J.Mo’ Moran, Simpson said the realisation he needed to change his path came as he moved from teen star to adult.

“It was going through things I went through as a teenager with my success and, quote unquote fame, very young and experiencing all of that,” Simpson said.

Cody Simpson ahead the new musical Guys & Dolls on Sydney Harbour. Picture: Richard Dobson

“And then kind of getting carried away in the trappings of and the temptations of Hollywood and the lifestyle that surrounds that and the freedom and autonomy that’s probably far too available to someone that young before your brain chemistry is really developed and before you have a chance to figure out and understand who you are, you know, the world sort of sees you. My whole upbringing is documented in some way, shape or form.”

Simpson was picked up by record producers after being noticed on YouTube at the age of 12 and promptly thrust into a global pop spotlight that is yet to abate.

There was no rule book, he said.

“I’ve had to learn to be OK with that and that’s just helped me grow and become stronger as a person because you have to learn acceptance and all the phases of your life that have made you who you are,” he said.

Cody Simpson in his younger years.

Cody Simpson and Emma McKeon.

“It would have been when I started to get older and to realise that I needed to start taking control of myself and my life and then going into swimming was super sobering for me, literally and metaphorically knowing that that was something I wanted to do that almost was able to lift me out of this other thing that I felt maybe stuck in at that time.”

He continued: “Swimming helped me so much sort of replace things and not that I was not ever like an addict to anything unhealthy but I was certainly a bit of a partier at one stage.”

From the outside looking in, it would seem everything Simpson puts his mind to turns to gold.

He’s conquered professional swimming, albeit missing out on representing the country at the Paris Olympic Games, soared the music charts and is now playing the lead of Skye Masterson in Guys & Dolls on Sydney Harbour at Mrs Macquarie’s Point.

Cody Simpson with journalist Jonathon J.Mo Moran for Mental As Anyone. Picture: Christian Gilles

“It is not that I’m not scared and I wouldn’t say I’m fearless in the true sense of the word,” said Simpson, who once dated Miley Cyrus and is now in a long-term relationship with Olympic champion Emma McKeon.

“But I would say that I’ve found a way to do things scared and so I’m fearless because I can do things while being full of fear. That’s such a great skill to learn. I’m a very all or nothing person so if I’m going to do something, I really do it all the way.”

* A new episode of Mental As Anyone is released each Tuesday.

Originally published as Cody Simpson: ‘I’m fearless because I can do things while being full of fear’