Selena Gomez on people judging her weight gain while battling lupus: ‘That really messed me up’

 Selena Gomez  is opening up about her body image. The 27-year-old singer went on the Giving Back Generation podcast and got candid about her experience being body shamed while battling lupus. She’s previously shared her struggles with mental health and dealing with negative comments on social media, but according to her, this period when critics started pointing out her weight fluctuation “really messed” her up, especially since she lives in the public eye.

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"I experienced [body-shaming] with my weight fluctuation for the first time," she told Raquelle Stevens during the interview, adding that her medical issues caused her body to change constantly. "I have lupus and deal with kidney issues and high blood pressure, so I deal with a lot of health issues, and for me that’s when I really started noticing more of the body image stuff.”

The actress, who previously took a social media hiatus to take care of her mental health also discussed just how much people attacking and judging her affected her. “It depends on even the month, to be honest, so for me I really noticed when people started attacking me for that,” she explained. "That got to me big time. That really messed me up for a bit.”

Since then, Selena hasn’t let social media dictate her life, but she acknowledges how hard it is, describing all “the beautiful girls and amazing different characters" who are constantly "demolished by an image that they're trying to chase." She added: “They're wanting to be a completely different person, but that's not whats inside of them. But I get it, I look at other people's pages—or I used to—and I'd be like, 'Okay, I need to fix myself.'"

Today the actress and singer is more cognizant of how much of her life she shares publicly. “I'm very happy with living my life and being present. Because that's it. Similar to me posting a photo and walking away; for me that's it,” she explained. “I will do a red carpet, I will do whatever; I don't need to see it; I participated; I felt wonderful and that's where the extent of it is. I don't care to expose myself to everyone and hear what they have to say."