Selena Gomez says losing ‘teenager’s body’ left her ‘embarrassed,’ led to body shaming
Selena Gomez opened up about being on the receiving end of scrutinizing body-shaming after undergoing surgery following her lupus diagnosis.
The then-24-year-old recalled feeling that she no longer “had a teenager’s body” during a magazine fitting — which ultimately left her self-conscious.
“None of the sample sizes were fitting, and that would make me feel embarrassed,” she said in a new interview with Fast Company. “Although how unrealistic is it to expect a normal woman’s body not to change?”
Following her diagnosis, the “Single Soon” songstress subsequently underwent a kidney transplant and chemotherapy.
A few months later, Gomez, now 31, was papped in a bikini during a getaway to Australia.
In the pap shots, Gomez, with her surgery scars clearly visible, soon found herself being flooded with mocking remarks on social media.
To make matters worse, the former Disney Channel star was living out a heartbreak publicly following her split from singer Justin Bieber at the time.
“I had just gotten my heart broken,” she told the outlet. “I didn’t need to see what everyone was doing.”
“Then there were those moments of not feeling positive about how I looked because of what I’d see on Instagram. ‘Wow, I wish my body looked like that,'” she added.
Gomez previously admitted that staying off social media helped to alleviate her anxiety and that she gave her passwords to her assistant in 2017.
Things took a turn for the worse in 2018 when the “Lose You To Love Me” hitmaker went into a psychosis and checked into a treatment center.
There, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
“I went through a really hard season,” she recalled. “It was my highs and my lows, and I didn’t know what to do, so I couldn’t control it. I would want to cancel things. It was just a tormented feeling.”
“That’s why, when I found out my diagnosis, it was just, ‘Oh, okay, I feel a bit relieved, I understand a bit more.’ I got second opinions. I went to doctors. I’m fortunate enough to be able to have people who can help me survive every day,” she added.
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And while she previously opted to keep her personal life private, Gomez says she shared her struggles with fans because it ultimately helped her.
“I grew up being a people pleaser,” she said. “I had a responsibility at a very young age — young people were looking up to me. I didn’t know who I was. Having that responsibility would make me walk on eggshells a lot. I thought maybe it would be damaging to tell people who I am. It started to become a threat that freaked me out.”
“Well, if you’re not right, then you can’t work,” she added.
