Luke Combs just let us in on a little secret: His brain loves to mess with him.
The 35-year-old country superstar revealed that he has a form of OCD called Pure O, which sounds like a fancy organic juice but is actually a whirlwind of intrusive thoughts that refuse to take a day off.
“It’s like my brain is playing a game of Would You Rather? except I never picked to play, and all the options are terrible,” Luke explained during an interview with 60 Minutes Australia. “You think something random and awful, then stress about why you thought it, which makes you think it more, and suddenly it’s like your brain is a DJ stuck on a terrible remix of the worst possible thoughts.”
Luke first noticed this mental circus when he was about 12, and he recently had a particularly spicy flare-up while on tour in January. (As if performing in front of thousands of people wasn’t already enough pressure, right?)
But over the years, Luke has developed a coping strategy that can best be described as peak dad energy.
“I just tell myself, ‘Alright, dude. It’s happening. Whatever.’” he said. “It’s annoying, it sucks, I’d love for it to not exist, but the less I try to fight it, the less power it has.”
Basically, Luke treats intrusive thoughts like that one weird uncle at Thanksgiving—you just nod, smile, and move on.
He also hopes to help other people dealing with the same struggles.
“I’d love to do outreach for kids dealing with this,” he shared. “Because it really held me back at times. You’ll be cruising along, doing great, then BAM—intrusive thoughts hit like a rogue wave, and suddenly you’re sinking for six months. Then you finally get back to shore, like, ‘Well, that was fun.’”
But despite all this, Luke is out here thriving. He’s got a booming career, a beautiful family, and a knack for writing hit songs and wrangling his overactive brain.
“If you’re struggling with this, just know you can still have a great life,” he assured. “You can achieve your dreams, be successful, have a wonderful family—and also have a brain that occasionally acts like a raccoon in a trash can at 3 AM.”
And honestly? That’s some solid life advice.
