Here she was, innocently floating about on a yacht on the idyllic Sydney Harbour surrounded by some of her dearest friends, and, as always, the paps wouldn’t leave her in peace. Cue, the body shaming insults that stars like Selena Gomez are all-too familiar with.
Considering the singer has been pretty open about the impact that last year’s kidney transplant has had on her bod, the insults that she looked “thick” and “pregnant” were even more disappointing.
Her response? To simply address, then dismantle, the age-old beauty myth of course. The beauty myth that is all-too common in mainstream media; the beauty myth that unreservedly touches all women’s lives.
The singer underwent surgery last September after her best friend Francia Raisa donated her a kidney. Selena made no secret of the fact that she had been battling autoimmune disease Lupus since 2013—a chronic inflammatory disease that occurs when the body’s immune system attacks its own tissues and organs—and desperately needed the kidney transplant for her overall sense of health.
As with pretty much all surgery, there are scars left behind and physical repercussions from the stress that Selena’s body has been through. Let’s be clear that she shouldn’t have to justify her body to anyone else, scars or not. She shouldn’t have to provide explanation, and she certainly shouldn’t have to spend her time hitting back at online trolls.
In a conversation with Billboard, Selena spoke openly and honestly about her post-surgery scar. When asked if she felt comfortable with it, she said “I do. I didn’t, but I do now. It was really hard in the beginning. I remember looking at myself in the mirror completely naked and thinking about all the things that I used to bitch about and just asking, “Why?” I had someone in my life for a very long time who pointed out all the things that I didn’t feel great about with myself. When I look at my body now, I just see life.”
So, all the more powerful was her response to the body-shamers. She wrote:
“The beauty myth – an obsession with physical perfection that traps modern woman in an endless cycle of hopelessness, self consciousness, and self-hatred as she tries to fulfil society’s impossible definition of flawless beauty. I chose to take care of myself because I want to, not to prove anything to anyone. Wind in her sails.”
The caption captures the advent of self-love and self-care that we’re currently experiencing. The sentiment radiates the raw, positive energy that the star is famous for, and is a beautiful tribute to all of the women out there who are simply trying to love themselves without condition.
Wind in her sails, indeed.
