Record producer and songwriter Benny Blanco opened up about his personal life, career, and mental health in a candid new interview on Jake Shane’s hit podcast Therapuss.
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The episode, released this week across YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts, sees Blanco reflecting on his relationship with fiancée Selena Gomez, sharing heartfelt stories about his struggles with OCD, and reminiscing about working with a teenage Billie Eilish at the start of her career.
Blanco, who proposed to Gomez in late 2024, admitted that wedding planning hasn’t officially begun yet. “Honestly, I really want to take a little break. I’ve been working so much,” he told Shane.
“I just want to lay in bed and forget what day it is because we’ve been in bed just watching stuff. Not usually, but with Selena, I can do it all day. She makes me want to hang out and cuddle, just watch things, eat food, and have the best time ever.”
He added that the couple hopes to sit down this summer and start mapping out their big day. “That wedding is going to be lit,” Shane teased, with Blanco laughing: “It’ll be chill.”
The conversation also delved into Blanco’s lifelong experience with obsessive-compulsive disorder. The multi-platinum hitmaker spoke openly about the rituals he used to perform as a child to stave off intrusive thoughts. “When I was a kid, I used to have this thing where I had to go ‘mmph.’ If I didn’t do it, I thought my parents were going to die,” he revealed. “Now I have little things where I touch parts of my face or make a fake cough sound—literally hundreds of times a day. It’s involuntary.”
Despite the challenges, Blanco has learned to manage the compulsions that were disruptive to others. “I got rid of all the things that are really annoying to another person. I still do little things like making sure everything in my shower is facing forward. But that’s insane regardless of OCD,” he joked.
Fans were particularly intrigued when Blanco connected Wizards of Waverly Place—the Disney Channel series that made Gomez a household name—to Billie Eilish’s breakthrough hit “Bad Guy.”
“I know the theme song [of Wizards] because it inspired ‘Bad Guy,’” Blanco said. “I worked with Billie when she was legit like 14 years old.” He explained how he and FINNEAS were introduced through a mutual lawyer before Eilish had even played a live show. “They didn’t need my help at all. They always do everything just the two of them, and it’s f—–g incredible.”
Blanco’s appearance on Therapuss joins an impressive roster of guests, including Tate McRae, Renee Rapp, Charli XCX, Joe Jonas, and Lorde.
