How Sam Smith ‘fought the f*ck back’ against struggle with body image

Sam Smith

Sam Smith has always been open about his struggles with self and body image.

And while the British singer has trimmed down considerably over the past few years, he admitted that he will always be “at war” with “the bloody mirror.”

Recently, however, he mustered enough courage to show off his body in a photo shoot, without feeling the need to “starve myself for weeks in advance.”

“[Back then, I would have] picked and prodded at every picture, then, normally, take the picture down,” he wrote on Instagram.

The accompanying photo—shot by Ryan Pfluger—shows a topless Sam on the beach.

“I decided to fight the f*ck back,” the singer-songwriter said. “Reclaim my body and stop trying to change this chest, these hips and curves that my mum and dad made and love so unconditionally.”

The photo shoot, he felt, was a “step in the right direction.”

“Some may take this as narcissistic, or as showing off,” said Sam, who thanked Ryan for helping him celebrate his body. “But if you knew how much courage it took to do this, and all the body trauma I have experienced as a kid, you wouldn’t think those things.”—ALLAN POLICARPIO