Singer Demi Lovato reminded fans on Sunday to be mindful about complimenting other people’s bodies.
The “Confident” singer, who recently came out as nonbinary and prefers they/them pronouns, took to Instagram stories over the weekend to share a powerful message.
“[I don’t know] who needs to hear this but complimenting someone on their weight loss can be as harmful as complimenting someone on their weight gain in regards to talking to someone in recovery from an eating disorder,” they explained with a black image with white text.
Continued Demi, “If you don’t know someone’s history with food, please don’t comment on their body.”
“Even if your intention is pure, it might leave that person awake at 2 am overthinking that statement,” the Grammy nominee cautioned, before continuing their warning in the caption of a second image about their struggles with receiving compliments about their body.
Demi, 28, confessed that reading praise about weight loss gives power to their eating disorder, noting that it strikes the inner dialogue of “See, people like a thinner you” and “If you eat less, you’ll lose even more weight.”
Remarked Demi, “It can also sometimes suck because then I start thinking ‘Well, damn. What’d they think of my body before?"”
“Moral of the story: I am more than the shell for my soul that is my body,” expressed Demi. “Everyday I fight to remind myself of that, so I’m asking you to please not remind me that that is all people see of me sometimes.”
Lovato has remained up front about their complicated relationship with their body and previously revealed on model Ashley Graham‘s Pretty Big Deal podcast last year that their eating disorder is what fed into their near-fatal overdose in 2018.
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