‘This makes me sick’: Selena Gomez forced to disclose another health condition due to body shamers

Selena Gomez has been forced yet again to disclose a private health condition due to harassment from body shamers.

2024 has been a big year for Gomez, who starred in the critically acclaimed Emilia Pérez and reprised her role as Mabel in Only Murders in the Building season 4. She even reprised her iconic role as Alex Russo in Disney’s Wizards Beyond Waverly Place. Despite so many new projects and accomplishments to speak of, some people are bizarrely more fixated on Gomez’s body. For years, Gomez has faced relentless body shaming and invasive speculation about her health and weight. She has previously disclosed her health struggles, including her diagnosis of lupus, in an attempt to stop the body shaming. Last year, she had to explain to body shamers how her lupus diagnosis and medication impacted her appearance.

While it is wonderful that she’s raising awareness for lupus, it is still very wrong that she’s been forced to release private health information just to try to lessen the bullying and body shaming she has faced. Meanwhile, even though she has repeatedly shared details of her lupus diagnosis and taken multiple social media breaks due to the toll of body shaming, body shamers still refused to leave her alone.

Selena Gomez reveals SIBO flare-up

Recently, Gomez attended the French American Film Festival premiere of Emilia Pérez. She was photographed arriving at the event in a gorgeous black gown. As reported by ELLE, photos of the event were shared on TikTok, with one now-deleted video drawing body-shaming comments. Social media users noticed that, in several photos, Gomez happened to pose with her hands on or near her abdomen. In addition to criticizing her appearance, users pointed to the position of her hands to claim she was trying to hide her body. The speculation and attacks got so out of hand that it caught Gomez’s attention.

In a comment, she wrote, “This makes me sick. I have SEBO [SIBO] in my small intestine. It flares up. I don’t care that I don’t look like a stick figure. I don’t have that body. End of story. No I am NOT a victim. I’m just human.” Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) is a condition in which one has a bacteria imbalance in the small intestine, which can cause abdominal pain, bloating, loss of appetite, and queasiness. It’s difficult to imagine how much discomfort Gomez may have been in. Yet, she still showed up to the event to support her colleagues and celebrate the success of Emilia Pérez. In response, people who know full well that she has health struggles decided to attack and speculate about her body.

It’s quite horrific that this is happening again. Surely, people haven’t forgotten that just a year ago, she was explaining the effects of lupus to body shamers. The problem is that body shamers refuse to learn. Now, they have bullied Gomez into sharing more personal details about her health, which are no one’s business but hers. Not only that, but Gomez also had to defend something no one should ever have to defend or explain: being “human.” After all, this is ultimately what everyone’s reason for their weight comes down to — simply being human and not being able to control one’s weight or have a certain body type due to any number of reasons or circumstances.

Women shouldn’t have to reveal private details about their lives or health to get people to stop talking about their appearance. We shouldn’t ever be expected to explain our bodies, period.