Selena Gomez is no stranger to online scrutiny, but the Wizards of Waverly Place star decided to speak out this week about particularly egregious comments on her body. Her response was posted in a comment on TikTok after users shared photos from the premiere of her new film Emilia Pérez at the American French Film Festival in Los Angeles.
In photos from the event, Gomez looks stunning in a black dress with ruched fabric, but has her hands up in several pictures over her torso. Her supposed fans commented on the pose, insinuating she was hiding her body in some way. Eventually, Gomez replied, making a point about how her primary concern is her health.
“This makes me sick,” she wrote of the speculation. “I have SEBO in my small intestine. It flares up. I don’t care that I don’t look like a stick figure. I don’t have that body. End of story. No I am NOT a victim. I’m just human.”
The singer is referring to small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, which the Mayo Clinic describes as an issue with the digestive tract that makes it difficult to process food and can cause bloating, stomach pain, and malnutrition. Gomez has been very open about her health struggles over the years, including her lupus diagnosis and her 2017 kidney transplant.
In a TikTok Live in February 2023, Gomez shared more about how her body changes according to how she is doing health-wise.
“I tend to hold a lot of water weight and that happens very normally, and then when I’m off it I tend to kind of lose weight,” she said. “I just wanted to say and encourage anyone out there who feels any sort of shame for exactly what [you’re] going through, [when] nobody knows the real story… you’re beautiful and you’re wonderful.”
Aimée Lutkin is the weekend editor at ELLE.com. Her writing has appeared in Jezebel, Glamour, Marie Claire and more. Her first book, The Lonely Hunter, will be released by Dial Press in February 2022.
