Selena Gomez is proud to be rare. In a duo of posts on her Instagram Story Monday (Jan. 22), the 31-year-old pop star got vulnerable about her recent feelings toward body image and compared two photos of herself in a bikini from different times in her life.
In the first photo shared by the Rare Beauty founder, a younger, slimmer Gomez stands by the pool in a Zebra-print two-piece. “Today, I realized I will never look like this again….,” wrote the Only Murders in the Building actress.
Then, sharing a more recent snapshot of herself in a swimsuit, climbing the steps of a boat, Gomez added, “I’m not perfect but I am proud to be who I am..sometimes i forget it’s ok to be me.”
The “Calm Down” singer has long been an advocate for body positivity, and has been open about how she’s experienced fluctuations in her weight since being diagnosed with Lupus in the 2010s. “It was like they couldn’t wait to find a thing to bring me down,” she said of trolls who attack her appearance online in a March podcast.
“I would go online and post a picture of myself and I would say, ‘It doesn’t matter. I’m not accepting what you’re saying,’ all the while being in the room posting that crying my eyes out, ’cause nobody deserves to hear those things,” she added at the time.
The Emmy nominee is currently preparing her upcoming album, and dropped a track “Single Soon” in August. The song was produced by Benny Blanco, Gomez’s boyfriend of several months.
