Selena Gomez Gets Candid About Gaining Weight Due to Lupus Medication

Selena Gomez is happy with her body and anyone who doesn’t like it can just “go away.”

During a TikTok Live on Thursday, the pop star addressed recent criticism of her physique, revealing that her fluctuating weight is the result of her lupus medication. “When I’m taking it, I tend to hold a lot of water weight, and that happens very normally. When I’m off of it, I tend to kind of lose weight,” she explained in a clip of the livestream posted to Twitter. “I just wanted to say and encourage anyone out there who feels any sort of shame for exactly what they’re going through and no one knows the real story,” she continued.

Gomez went on to share that commentary about her appearance has taken a serious toll on her mental health, but she tries to focus on what really matters rather than what people are saying, which is her health. “I just want people to know that you’re beautiful, and you’re wonderful,” she said. “Yeah, we have days where maybe we feel like shit, but I would much rather be healthy and take care of myself. My medications are important, and I believe that they’re what helps me.” She also added that she is “not a model” and “never will be” and her weight is really nobody’s business. She concluded her video with a message for her fans, saying, “I love you guys and thanks for supporting me and understanding. And if not, go away, because honestly, I don’t believe in shaming people for their body or anything.”

The Only Murders in the Building star also recently told Vanity Fair why she decided to outsource all of her social media to her assistant. “I never got the chance to go to an actual high school. The world was my high school for the longest time, and I started getting inundated with information that I didn’t want. I went through a hard time in a breakup and I didn’t want to see any of the [feedback]—not necessarily about the relationship, but the opinions of me versus [someone] else. There’d be thousands of really nice comments, but my mind goes straight to the mean one,” she explained. “People can call me ugly or stupid and I’m like, Whatever. But these people get detailed. They write paragraphs that are so specific and mean. I would constantly be crying. I constantly had anxiety…I couldn’t do it anymore. It was a waste of my time.” These days, Gomez continued, “The only thing I have on my phone is TikTok because I find it to be a little less hostile. There are wonderful things about social media—connecting with fans, seeing how happy and excited they are and their stories. But usually that’s filtered through [for me now]. I created a system. Everything I do I send to my assistant who posts them. As far as comments, my team will put together a few things that are encouraging.”