Back in April, Selena Gomez was photographed on the beach in a tiny bikini. We hardly had time to blink before internet trolls bashed the singer over her body image, but she had no problem fighting back.
Gomez recently took to Instagram to share the artwork for the cover of her new album, Revival, which puts it all out there.
She sat down with Ellen Degeneres on The Ellen Degeneres Show to not only defend her album cover, but also to defend her body and spread a positive image.
Of the criticism she has received, Gomez told the host, “It was the first time I’d ever been called fat… it was weird because it’s not just ‘Oh, she’s fat.’ It’s like, ‘She’s a mess. She’s gone off the deep end.’”
Rather than let the haters get to her, Gomez reiterated that she would not let them win.
“It’s so annoying when I see it all over the place and everybody thinks they can bring me down,” the songstress said. “So my immediate response was I’m gonna post a picture and I’m like, ‘I’m happy with me y’all’… I wasn’t gonna let that be the story. That wasn’t my story.”
Gomez is referring to the beautiful Instagram post she put up after the original pictures surfaced on April 16. The pic was captioned, “I love being happy with me y’all #theresmoretolove.”
Though she exudes confidence, it hasn’t come easy to her. She revealed to Us Weekly that it took therapy for her to get back on track. “This was the first year I ever dealt with anyone talking about my body,” she said. “I’d land at the airport and people would yell out, ‘You’re fat!’ It was awful. I’ve been working in therapy. Even if I did gain weight, I’m fine.”
We applaud you, Selena.