Even though Sam Smith has spent much of his career uplifting fans with his music, the pop singer took to Instagram on Tuesday to speak openly about his struggle with body image issues.
Posting a photo of himself standing shirtless on a beach, Smith talked about his reluctance throughout his career to pose for photos without a shirt on. “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,” the “Stay With Me” singer wrote.
But Smith added that he now feels enough confidence to express himself however he likes. “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.”
Along with receiving near-unanimous support from his fans, Smith also received a message from his photographer Ryan Pfluger on Instagram, who praised the singer’s decision to combat his anxiety through photography. “Thank you for trusting me to facilitate photographs that empower your ownership of your body and mind,” Pfluger wrote. “I honestly wish everyone relinquished themselves to the experience like you did.”
Smith closed his post by saying that while he would constantly be struggling with his body, he was glad he could be open about his experience. “I’ll always be at war with this bloody mirror but this shoot and this day was a step in the right fucking direction,” he wrote.
Check out Sam Smith’s full Instagram post below: