Luke Combs details ‘debilitating’ battle with rare, ‘particularly wicked’ mental health condition
Luke Combs candidly detailed his battle with a rare form of OCD in a recent interview.
The country music superstar shared on “60 Minutes Australia” that he has struggled with purely obsessional obsessive-compulsive disorder, also known as Pure O, since the age of 12 but recently experienced his “worst flare-up” in years while on tour.
“It’s thoughts, essentially, that you don’t want to have … and then they cause you stress, and then you’re stressed out, and then the stress causes you to have more of the thoughts, and then you don’t understand why you’re having them, and you’re trying to get rid of them, but trying to get rid of them makes you have more of them,” he explained of the “tedious” and “debilitating” condition.
Combs, 35, said he feels “lucky” to be an “expert” in Pure O since he has dealt with it for more than two decades and knows “how to get out of it now.”
“When it hits, man, it can be all-consuming,” he told reporter Adam Hegarty, adding that “a really bad flare-up” can last “45 seconds of every minute for weeks.”
The “Forever After All” singer — who shares sons Tex, 2, and Beau, 1, with wife Nicole Combs — called the disorder “particularly wicked,” as his intrusive thoughts are sometimes violent.
“The way to get out of it is, like, it doesn’t matter what the thoughts even are. You giving any credence to what the thoughts are is, like, irrelevant and only fuels you having more of them,” he shared.
“It’s learning to just go, ‘It doesn’t even matter what the thoughts are.’ Like, I just have to accept that they’re happening and then just go, ‘Whatever, dude. It’s happening. It’s whatever.’ It’s weird, sucks, hate it, drives me crazy, but … the less that you worry about why you’re having the thoughts, eventually they go away.”
While Pure O is not classified as a diagnosis in the American Psychiatric Association’s “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,” Healthline says professionals use the term to distinguish it from regular OCD, which is marked by physical compulsions in addition to mental.
Combs, who also has anxiety, said he decided to speak out about his struggles in the hope of helping others with the lesser-known condition.
“I definitely want to spend some time at some point in my life doing some outreach to kids that deal with this ’cause it held me back so many times in my life,” he told Hegarty.
“… It’s possible to continue to live your life and be really successful and have a great family and achieve your dreams while also dealing with things that you don’t want to be dealing with.”
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Luke Combs admits his struggle with ‘obscure’ mental health disorder can be ‘all-consuming’
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Luke Combs is sharing his struggles with obsessive-compulsive disorder, hoping to inspire others with the same condition.
“I do really well with it for the most part. It’s something in at least some way I think about every day,” Combs told “60 Minutes Australia” in a recent interview.
The “Fast Car” singer described his type of OCD, which is a more “obscure” form of the disorder, explaining, “It’s thoughts, essentially, that you don’t want to have… and then they cause you stress, and then you’re stressed out, and then the stress causes you to have more of the thoughts, and then you don’t understand why you’re having them, and you’re trying to get rid of them, but trying to get rid of them makes you have more of them.”
He added, “It’s really tedious to pull yourself out of it. It takes a lot of… you have to know what to do. I’m lucky to be an expert to know how to get out of it now.”
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Luke Combs recently opened up about his “obscure” form of OCD, which can give him repetitive and intrusive thoughts. (Getty Images)
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD, is a disorder where people have uncontrollable and recurring thoughts or repetitive behaviors, or both. “Obsessions are repeated thoughts, urges, or mental images that are intrusive, unwanted, and make most people anxious,” NIMH explains.
For Combs, “the variant I have is particularly wicked because there’s no outward manifestation of it.”
“It’s really tedious to pull yourself out of it… I’m lucky to be an expert to know how to get out of it now.”
Combs explained that the physical actions, or compulsions, typically associated with OCD, like repeated flicking of light switches or other repetitive behaviors, are all happening internally.
“So for someone like myself, you don’t even know it’s going on.”
Combs said his “variant” of OCD doesn’t have any behavioral manifestations, but instead is all internal, making it hard for people to know it’s happening. (Cooper Neill/Getty Images)
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But the 35-year-old has worked to manage his symptoms as they flare up.
“The way to get out of it is, like, it doesn’t matter what the thoughts even are. You giving any credence to what the thoughts are is, like, irrelevant and only fuels you having more of them,” Combs said.
He continued, “It’s learning to just go, ‘It doesn’t even matter what the thoughts are.’ Like, I just have to accept that they’re happening and then just go, ‘Whatever, dude. It’s happening. It’s whatever.’ It’s weird, sucks, hate it, drives me crazy, but then you just eventually… the less that you worry about why you’re having the thoughts, eventually they go away.”
The thoughts range from “intrusively violent thoughts” to thoughts about religion and himself, saying “it focuses on things that don’t have an answer.”
Some of the thoughts Combs gets stuck on are “things that don’t have an answer,” further fueling the flare-ups. (Monica Murray/Variety via Getty Images)
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“That’s what fuels the anxiety is you can’t ever get an answer and you desperately want an answer for whatever this thing that’s bothering you is. But learning to [think that] it doesn’t matter what the answer is, is the freedom to just go, ‘I don’t have to have an answer to that question.’”
The OCD can flare up on stage, and “when it hits, man, it can be all-consuming.”
Combs admitted that a “really bad flare-up” can last “45 seconds of every minute for weeks.”
The “When It Rains It Pours” singer thinks he first experienced it at 12 or 13, and empathizes with kids going through similar experiences.
Combs said the flare-ups of his OCD can occur onstage, and some thought cycles can last “45 seconds of every minute for weeks.” (Getty Images)
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“It’s held me back so many times in my life, where you’re trying to accomplish something, you’re doing really great, and then you have a flare-up and it’s like… it just ruins your whole life for six months. And you’re back to where you started.”
“I have the tools now… when it happens now, I’m not as afraid of it.”
Combs hopes he can serve as an inspiration for others experiencing OCD and begin doing mental health outreach in the future. (Terry Wyatt/Getty Images)
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Combs hopes to do mental health outreach to others going through OCD, hoping his work to come out of flare-ups showcases that “it’s possible to continue to live your life and be really successful and have a great family and achieve your dreams while also dealing with things that you don’t want to be dealing with. That’s something I hope people take away from me regardless of my musical success.”
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The ‘Fast Car’ singer first experienced a flare-up around 12 or 13 years old
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Country star Luke Combs opens up about living with ‘wicked’ OCD condition known as pure O
Country star Luke Combs opens up about living with ‘wicked’ OCD condition known as pure O
Country superstar Luke Combs opened up about his experience living with purely obsessional obsessive-compulsive disorder, informally known as pure O, in a recent interview with “60 Minutes Australia.”
Combs, 35, has struggled with the condition since he was 12 years old. He experienced his “worst flare-up” of mental compulsions in years while in Australia on tour in January and described how this subset of OCD affects him.
“It’s thoughts, essentially, that you don’t want to have,” he explained last month. “And then they cause you stress, and then you’re stressed out, and then the stress causes you to have more of the thoughts, and then you don’t understand why you’re having them, and you’re trying to get rid of them, but trying to get rid of them makes you have more of them.”
The singer and songwriter described the condition as “particularly wicked,” as his intrusive thoughts are sometimes violent.
“I just have to accept that they’re happening and then just go, ‘Whatever, dude. It’s happening. It’s whatever,’” he said. “It’s weird, sucks, hate it, drives me crazy, but … the less that you worry about why you’re having the thoughts, eventually they go away.”
After more than two decades of managing the condition, Combs has learned how to navigate its challenges. He considers himself “lucky” to be an “expert” in getting through episodes, but acknowledged how overwhelming they can be.
“When it hits, man, it can be all-consuming,” Combs said. “If you have a flare-up of it … you could think about it 45 seconds of every minute for weeks.”
Looking ahead, Combs is no longer afraid of his condition and hopes to use his platform to support others facing similar struggles.
“I definitely want to spend some time at some point in my life doing some outreach to kids that deal with this,” he said. “Because it held me back so many times in my life, where you’re trying to accomplish something, you’re doing really great and then you have a flare-up and it just ruins your whole life for six months … and then you’re back to where you started.”
Despite the challenges, Combs wants others to know that the condition does not have to define them.
“The message is if there’s someone out there that’s struggling with it, it’s possible to continue to live your life, and be really successful, and have a great family, and achieve your dreams, while also dealing with things that you don’t want to be dealing with.”
Terry Dickerson is a news associate with NBC News Digital.
© 2025 NBCUniversal Media, LLC
