Body positivity has been actively promoted by celebrities and influencers on social media—many of these women, given that the brunt of criticism has been placed on how the perfect female physique should look.
Image: Instagram/@samsmith
Men too face pressure on what the ideal male body should look, and singer-songwriter Sam Smith revealed his own body-image issues in an Instagram post on Feb. 12.
He shared a shirtless photo of himself in jeans standing on the shore and wrote in the caption that it was his way of “reclaiming” his body.
“In the past if I have ever done a photo shoot with so much as a t-shirt on, I have starved myself for weeks in advance and then picked and prodded at every picture and then normally taken the picture down,” he said.
“Yesterday I decided to fight the fuck back. Reclaim my body and stop trying to change this chest and these hips and these curves that my mum and dad made and love so unconditionally,” he wrote.
“Some may take this as narcissistic and showing off but if you knew how much courage it took to do this and the body trauma I have experienced as a kid you wouldn’t think those things.”
“I’ll always be at war with this bloody mirror but this shoot and this day was a step in the right f*cking direction,” he said.
The “Stay with Me” singer received an overwhelming outpouring of support from his 11 million followers, with over 1.1 million likes on the post as of this writing.
“Love this,” wrote singer Niall Horan.
“You look great Sam!” singer Kelly Rowland said. “I have an idea of that journey and I am too proud of you!”
“Simply divine my friend. Never more beautiful. I miss you,” commented actress Sarah Jessica Parker.
It also caught the attention of some local celebrities, namely Isabelle Daza, who has also spoken up on worrying about her weight, especially when she was pregnant.
“Amen,” she commented.
Model Nyle DiMarco assured him, “You look beautiful and I love that you’re embracing yourself. The benefits of embracing yourself outweigh the fallbacks of hiding. Always be you!” /ra
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