Selena Gomez hits back at body shamers on Instagram
NEW YORK — Selena Gomez took to Instagram after paparazzi photos of her in Australia showed a scar from her kidney transplant for the first time. Social media users also commented on Gomez's body and slight weight gain.
The singer wrote that the beauty myth was "an obsession with physical perfection that traps modern woman in an endless cycle of hopelessness, self consciousness and self-hatred."
Gomez says she "chose to take care of myself" because she wants to and "not to prove anything to anyone." The post included a video of Gomez with friends on a boat in Sydney Harbor.
The scar was the result of a complication from the kidney transplant she had last summer due to her struggle with lupus. Her best friend Francia Raisa, who donated the kidney, told W that their recoveries were hard and that Gomez suffered a frightening complication.
"A few hours after our surgery, I woke up and had a text from her that said, 'I'm really scared.' My kidney was very active, and when it turned I broke an artery. They had to take her into emergency surgery and get a vein from her leg and build a new artery to keep my kidney in place. She could have died," Raisa told the publication.
Gomez has been open about her kidney transplant. In December, at the Billboard Women in Music event, Gomez won Woman of the Year and Raisa presented the award. "To be honest, I think Francia should be getting this award because she saved my life," Gomez said.
In September, Gomez said she needed the transplant for her "overall health" and thanked her "beautiful friend" for making the "ultimate gift and sacrifice."
