Concert for Ukraine - Studio©GettyImages
Speaking out

Camila Cabello shares a touching essay about body insecurity

The 25-year-old singer and actress shared a lengthy message calling out the paparazzi for taking photos of her

Camila Cabello opened up again about her body insecurities in a recent social media post. The 25-year-old singer and actress shared a lengthy message calling out the paparazzi for taking photos of her while trying to enjoy her day off at a beach club in Miami.

“Somehow when I check in paps know and get me in my bikini and every time I’ve felt super vulnerable and unprepared,” she wrote. “I’ve worn bikinis that were to (sic) small and paid no mind to how I looked, then saw pictures online and comments and been so upset. I reminded myself when It impacted myself esteem that I was thinking the culture’s thoughts and not my own. A culture who has gotten so used to an image of what a ‘healthy‘ woman’s body looks like that is completely not real for a lot of women.”

Concert for Ukraine - Studio©GettyImages
Camila Cabello poses backstage during a Concert for Ukraine at Resorts World Arena on March 29, 2022 in Birmingham, England. All proceeds from Concert for Ukraine are being donated to Disasters Emergency Committee’s Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.

Cabello said that “Photoshop, restrictive eating, over exercising” are harmful because they make people’s bodies “look different than how they are in the moment and in their natural form, when we take a deep breath, when we eat a meal, when we allow the waves to tussle us around.”

“I remind myself of this, listen to podcasts on intuitive eating, follow women who accept their cellulite, stretch marks, bellies, bloating, and weight fluctuations.. and still,” Cabello said. “I’m a single woman in her 20s in the middle of a s—t ton of promo and i want to feel like I look ’good.’”

Camila revealed that she got a “cute outfit,” applied makeup and “didn’t eat anything too heavy” because she knew she was going to be photographed. “I held my core so tight my abs hurt and didn’t breathe and barely smiled and was so self conscious of where the paps we re the whole time i couldn’t let go and relax and do what we’re meant to do when we go out into nature,” she wrote.

“I tried to pretend they weren’t there but I couldn’t and I held my breath from my sun chair to the ocean. I looked at a group of toddlers giggling with excitement at the waves knocking them over — no sunglasses, no jewelry, no self consciousness, just the innocence of children — which is the feeling I have always gone into nature for,” she continued.

Camila Cabello©Camila Cabello

“I felt the emptiness and sadness of our culture’s thoughts that became my thoughts,” she wrote. “I wanted to talk about this because we see pictures of women and praise them for looking good, for looking fit or ‘healthy’, but what is health if you are so fixated on what your body looks like that your mental health suffers and you can’t enjoy your life? Who am I trying to look attractive for and am I even attractive to myself if I can’t let loose and relax and have fun and be playful on a beautiful day at the beach?”

“I’m not yet at the point in my journey where I can not give a f—k,” she candidly continued. “Intellectually, I know what I look like doesn’t determine how healthy, happy, or sexy I am. Emotionally, the messaging i get from our world is loud in my own head. Ironically, all the therapy, all the inner work is to try and get back to feeling like 7 year old me on the beach . I’m mourning her today. Happy, silly, breathing, pretending to be a mermaid, FREE.”

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