Luke Combs Wants To Spread Awareness About His ‘Particularly Wicked’ Form Of OCD: ‘You Can Still Go On And Do Great Things’

Luke Combs is opening up about living with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Combs’ form of OCD doesn’t involve repetitive physical actions like checking a door knob or excessive cleaning.

“It’s thoughts, essentially, that you don’t want to have that you’re having,” Combs said in a February 2025 interview with “60 Minutes Australia.” “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.”

He continued, “You’re trying to get rid of [the thoughts] but trying to get rid of them makes you have more of them. And it’s really complex and really detailed …It’s very tedious to pull yourself out of it.”

Combs also shared how he experienced his “worst flare-up” in years just days before his March performance in Australia.

The 35-year-old country music star started experiencing OCD symptoms when he was a pre-teen. He’s sharing his struggles in hopes of communicating to young people especially that having a debilitating condition like OCD doesn’t have hold you back from achieving your dreams.

“You’re trying to accomplish something, you’re doing really great, and then you have a flare-up and it ruins your whole life for six months — and then you’re back to where you started,” Combs said.

“That’s something that I hope people take away from me at the end of my career,” he added. “Regardless of the musical success,” he said, “I want to be an example for those kids that don’t have any hope — that you can still go on and do great things, even though you’re dealing with something that’s is really tough.”

Luke Combs Is Getting A Star On Nashville’s Walk of Fame In March 2025

On March 20, 2025, the Music City Walk of Fame is set to induct Combs, who first learned the exciting news on October 12, 2024. He was in the middle of performing at his inaugural, three-day music and beach festival called Luke Combs Bootleggers Bonfire, according to Country Now. Combs’ longtime manager, Chris Kappy, popped up on stage and surprised him with the news via a video. The end of the video read: “Congratulations Luke on your upcoming induction into the Music City Walk of Fame.”

“I would have never expected anything like that, I’m not even certain that I deserve something like that,” Combs told the crowd. “I wouldn’t have it without you guys, I wouldn’t have it without my family in my team and everybody that works so hard and dedicates parts of their lives to make my awesome. So I just want to thank my whole team, my wife, my kids, Kappy, everybody that’s here. You know who you are. But thank you guys man, so much.”

Luke Combs’ Cover Of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” Is One Of His Biggest Hits

Combs boasts 17 number ones on Billboard’s Country Radio Airplay chart, including “Hurricane,” “When It Rains It Pours,” “Beer Never Broke My Heart,” “Better Together,” and “Fast Car.” The latter song is a cover of Tracy Chapman’s 1988 hit off her self-titled debut album. Combs has talked openly about how Chapman’s debut album was the soundtrack to his childhood in many ways, particularly how his father played the cassette version over and over again during truck rides together, according to People.

Combs’ version of “Fast Car” climbed to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, which covers all genres. At the 2024 Grammys, Combs and Chapman performed the song together as a duet, which received a standing ovation.

“It opened up new doors for me that I had never had opened before, but I’m honestly just glad the song moved back in the spotlight and got introduced to a new audience that may have never heard it before,” Combs said at the time about the the song’s success, according to People. “It’s one of those songs that should be around forever, so I’m thankful it got a new life.”

“I always thought it was one of the best songs of all time, so I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised,” Combs added. “But there’s nothing like Tracy’s version, so I thought it would just be a nice complement to the original but never really expected mine to take off quite the way it did.”