Aside from mental health, one topic about which Selena Gomez speaks with regularity is body positivity. Like most female celebrities, Selena gets a lot of scrutiny and criticism, which is especially gross when coupled with the fact of her physical health issues and need to take medication. Sometimes she claps back or defends herself as she did after the Golden Globes, chalking up her (lovely, I thought) appearance to holiday indulgences, saying that’s why she’s “a little bit big right now.”
Selena Gomez is still not letting her critics get her down.
The Only Murders in the Building star, a longtime advocate for body positivity, drew several body-shaming comments on social media after she walked the red carpet at the 2023 Golden Globes on Jan. 10. Selena, 30, later appeared on Instagram Live with her award show date, her little sister Gracie Elliot Teefey, 9, and spoke about gaining weight.
“I’m a little bit big right now because I enjoyed myself during the holidays,” she said, as seen in a video reshared on TikTok, before asking her sibling, “Right?”
Gracie replied, “Yeah,” after which Selena began laughing.
The pop star spoke while dressed in her Golden Globes attire—a strapless, plum velvet Valentino Fall 2022 Haute Couture gown with puff sleeves and a long train. At the award show, Selena was nominated for her first Golden Globe, for best performance by an actress in a television series, comedy or musical for her role of Mabel Mora in Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building.
It’s unfortunate that she feels she has to make videos like this justifying her appearance/weight. I hadn’t seen any particular body criticism, but she must have or was just generally feeling self-conscious. But I thought she looked great and wish people didn’t expect female celebrities to look exactly as they did at 15. (Although some of her fashion is another story.) I don’t think she needed to say anything at all, but I can certainly understand feeling insecure and wanting to. But she doesn’t need to defend herself over her body! But something she might need to justify — her new boyfriend, Drew Taggart from The Chainsmokers. EW. US Weekly had the exclusive: “The former Disney Channel star is ‘so affectionate’ with the rocker and ‘Selena can hardly keep her hands off him,’ the insider tells Us, adding that the pair are ‘having a lot of fun together.’” I mostly know him as a skeeze from his music, dealings with Halsey, and general vibe. Selena seems to have matured a lot in the past few years, but it seems her taste in men hasn’t.
No snark at all, I just want her to be happy. She reminds me of a baby Elizabeth Taylor in that first photo.
Ew, girl. Your bf was just bragging about having threesomes with their fans. Run!
Maybe she felt the need to speak because she was feeling self conscious after a tailor made a remark or took measurements for her custom dress. Nothing destroys your confidence more than that little tape measure going around your waist and some dumb man or woman making a face or snort.
Right?! EW! Stop falling for douches girl!
She is not “big” and I feel sad that she has to frame it that way and make excuses for it.
That is the opposite of body positivity.
She is not “big” is any sense of the word. I hate that she feels she has to give an excuse for having a few extra pounds in January!
This. She’s not big at all. She’s perfect just as she is.
This makes me sad. I understand as a woman just expecting scrutiny, its so off the chart when you are a celebrity. I have seen that her mom is a curvier woman and I also wonder if she feels if she goes the ways of her genes she will be vilified.
Seriously. She is thin and small. Not being skeletal doesn’t make a woman “big”. And if a woman is actually “big”, so what? Good! Take up more space!
Why is she saying that in front of her little sister? Mentioning weight changes to a young girl is a very bad idea. She should have said nothing. I mean, she looks great. Didn’t she leave SM for a while? She should stay off it since it bothers her so much.
She doesn’t owe *anyone* an explanation about her body. None of us do.
She has lupus and a kidney transplant, so I’m sure she is on multiple meds that could make her look puffy and/or gain weight. Plus the latest diagnosis-bipolar disorder!
She is such a lovely person and should not apologize for anything.
I’m so happy she has a job where she can work with Martin Short and Steve Martin-that has to be a source of joy for her.
The new BF? She needs to kick him to the curb. He doesn’t deserve her!
Her body is not our business, period.
Pro-ana Twitter unfortunately shows up in my feed these days (thanks a lot, Apartheid Clyde), and that’s the only place I’ve seen criticism of her body. GET OFFLINE, SELENA.
There’s nothing wrong with her body. I’m more concerned about her face.
It might be the meds. My brother has lupus too and when he has to take steroids his face gets puffy and round like a sun
Not even big – just healthier. People want these starlets to stay 17 forever. Like, please, she’s a full grown women and bodies are supposed to change. I hope we’re gonna see more celebs (of all ages) with bodies like Selena, and Miss Flo, unapologetic for her body instead of weirdos like the kardashians with 1000 filters and double that in surgeries and injections. Let’s talk about their talent and what they really got to offer.
Honestly the weight did good to make her look not so 17 anymore. She looks like an adult. Previously, in “only murders” it was so very hard for me to see her as my peer in age.
I just hate that she has to justify herself
“People want these starlets to stay 17 forever. Like, please, she’s a full grown women and bodies are supposed to change.” This, and that’s whether it’s a woman who has been following The Rules ♱ for how a lady is supposed to dress and present herself or not.
She looks fantastic.
The fact that the focus is on her body, & not her first nomination is so terribly sad.
Congratulations to her.
I read that people were asking if she was pregnant 😒
What is wrong with people? Not asking such a thing is basic common courtesy.
As someone who also deals with health issues, it’s honestly so refreshing to see an example of someone in Hollywood whose weight naturally fluctuates, either because she simply enjoyed herself or because of medication/condition changes. I wish she wouldn’t talk in front of her sister like that — she’s certainly not big, her body just changes sometimes and she’s still very beautiful and healthy looking.
She’s lovely and talented. We all need a little more kindness to other and to ourselves.
I hate the talk of weight in general. Do people not think someone realizes when they gain weight? Why do they need to point it out?? Especially for celebrities. She was the first one that knew…and she has nothing to apologize for and defend, she looks great. I would have just commented mind ya own…but she is better than me!
Selena Gomez is a beautiful girl, and she has a great body. She gets criticized for her appearance constantly, which is almost entirely unfair. I feel like she’s been dabbling in fillers a bit too much, but it is nobody’s business, as long as she’s happy.
Only thing I care about is why she suddenly has a boyfriend who was in a relationship with another girl on vacation with her literally last month
How sweet that she brought her little sister as her date. I hope she had fun.
I also feel bad she has to make excuses/apologies for the way she looks. Like she OWES people explanations for her body. It makes me sad. I also feel uncomfortable when I’ve gained weight and see people I haven’t seen for a long time. And I’m much older than her and much bigger. And I’ve always been a feminist and STILL feel this way about myself, unfortunately.
I think it is really horrible that SG felt like she needed to give an explanation.
Let these younger women live their lives. So many with eating disorders, healthy is important.
Life is short, enjoy a little, try to be healthy and everyone else should have some manners, mind their own business.
I just binged her cooking show “Selena and Chef” and I Loved it, so now I feel very protective of her and this sucks!
SHE LOOKS GREAT! So what if she isn’t a skinny 14 yr old rail! She’s gorgeous and it’s sad that she even felt the need to say that. Like someone else said, she has lupus and also a kidney transplant. I had a kidney and liver transplant and the prednisone and tacrolimus are hard on your body.
All she had to do was read the comments on this site to feel fat shamed y’all called her sad boobies and ill fitted and such