10:39 AM PDT 3/20/2018
by
Katie Krzaczek, Billboard
Back off, shamers.
Selena Gomez took to Instagram last night to shut down what she calls “the beauty myth” — seemingly a response to shamers who jumped on photos of the 25-year-old singer/actress in an orange-and-black string bikini while on vacation in Sydney, Australia. TMZ pointed out Gomez’s transplant scars, which brought fans to her fast defense.
Selena Gomez’s Transplant Scars Visible As She Soaks Up Sun in Sydney https://t.co/KUp8f4MOpZ
— TMZ (@TMZ) March 19, 2018
Gomez posted a video showing her and her friends sailing in Sydney and captioned the clip with a declaration against the “obsession with physical perfection that traps modern woman in an endless cycle of hopelessness, self consciousness, and self-hatred.”
She soundtracked the video with Alvvays’ “Dreams Tonite,” and closed with some words of self-empowerment: “I chose to take care of myself because I want to, not to prove anything to anyone.”
Since she went public with her lupus diagnosis in 2015, and in 2017 underwent a kidney transplant (donated by close friend and actress Francia Raisa), Gomez has been open in talking about both her physical and mental health. The “Wolves” singer told Harper’s Bazaar in February that she’ll have a better year in 2018 because “anyone who knows me knows I will always start with my health and my well-being.”
Gomez also addressed how Instagram has given her a platform to tell her own story. “It has given me a voice amid all the noise of people trying to narrate my life for me,” she told the mag. “It’s an incredible platform, but in a lot of ways it’s given young people, myself included, a false representation of what’s important.”
Watch Gomez’s Instagram video below.
This article first appeared on Billboard.com.
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