Selena Gomez Reflects on Body Changes in Then & Now Instagram Posts: ‘I Am Proud to Be Who I Am’

Selena Gomez

Selena Gomez is speaking candidly about her body image.

On Monday evening, the singer shared a series of Instagram Stories, showing off her body in photos from over the years.

The Only Murders in the Building star, 31, first shared a photo from an earlier date, where she’s photographed wearing a zebra bikini. In the Instagram Story, she wrote, “Today I realized I will never look like this again…”

She followed up the first photo with a more recent bathing suit image. This photo showed Gomez in a black, high-waisted bikini bottom with a white tube-top bikini top.

The second Story caption read, “I’m not perfect, but I am proud to be who I am… Sometimes I forget it’s ok to be me.”

The Rare Beauty founder’s recent posts follow her previous body positivity messages, along with the instances when she’s called out body-shamers for sharing unpleasant comments about her body.

In April 2022, the Selena + Chef star called out body shamers who criticized her appearance. “Honestly, I don’t care about my weight because people bitch about it anyway,” she said in her TikTok Stories. “‘You’re too small,’ ‘you’re too big,’ ‘that doesn’t fit.’ ‘Meh meh meh meh.’”

“Bitch, I am perfect the way I am,” she added. “Moral of the story? Bye.”

Selena Gomez in April 2022. TIKTOK

After the actress appeared at the 80th Golden Globes in January 2023, she received comments regarding her physical appearance from internet users.

In a recorded Instagram Live video reposted via popnewsdaily account on TikTok, Gomez addressed the critics while chatting with her 9-year-old sister, Gracie Elliott Teefey.

“I’m a little bit big right now because I enjoyed myself during the holidays,” she told her followers before turning her head to Gracie, asking for her opinion, “right?”

After Gracie appeared to agree with the singer, Gomez began to burst into laughter.

In a March 2023 Instagram video shared to Rare Beauty’s Instagram account, the entrepreneur revealed the affirmations she’d pass down to her younger self.

“Something I wish I could tell my younger self is: Appreciate the face and the body that you have. May not look like everyone else, but you are who you are, and be proud of that,” Gomez said in the clip.

Gomez — who underwent a kidney transplant in September 2017 due to complications from lupus — has previously explained that her condition causes “weight fluctuations” that used to bother her.

“I have lupus and deal with kidney issues and high blood pressure, so I deal with a lot of health issues, and for me, that’s when I really started noticing more of the body image stuff,” she said in an interview with friend Raquelle Stevens on her video podcast Giving Back Generation in November 2019.

The “Lose You to Love Me” singer said that the “combination” of her lupus and the medication she needs alters her weight.

[via]