Selena Gomez opens up about weight struggles, fat-shaming and ongoing battle with insecurity

Selena Gomez has spoken candidly about the years of fat-shaming she has faced and the insecurity it created. In a new interview with Allure, the 33-year-old singer and actress admitted, “I’ve dealt with a lot of weight issues in my life, and that’s something I’m very sensitive to.”

Gomez revealed she works through these struggles with dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT), which she described as “peeling away layers” and learning to trace emotions back to past experiences.

She recalled, “I got stung by a person saying I was fat. Why is that [emotion] coming up? Oh, now I understand, that’s stemming from that one time when I was going through some medical stuff and I had gained weight.”

The Only Murders in the Building star, who was diagnosed with lupus in 2014 and later underwent chemotherapy and a kidney transplant, explained that her medication often causes weight fluctuations. “When I’m taking it, I tend to hold a lot of water weight, and that happens very normally. When I’m off of it, I tend to kind of lose weight,” she said during a 2023 TikTok Live.

Despite public scrutiny, Gomez has continued to defend herself against body-shaming. At the 2023 Golden Globes, after receiving online comments about her appearance, she responded, “I’m a little bit big right now because I enjoyed myself during the holidays. But we don’t care.”

She also reminded fans in 2022 that she is “not a model” and declared, “I am perfect the way I am.” Gomez has previously spoken about her bipolar disorder diagnosis in 2020, calling it a “huge weight lifted off” her shoulders.

While acknowledging the “daily struggle,” Gomez stressed the importance of prioritising health, saying, “My medications are important, and I believe that they’re what helps me.”