Camila Cabello Posts A Raw Message About Body Acceptance

Camila Cabello has opened up about her experiences with body acceptance. On April 1, the pop star returned to her home in Miami following a trip to London. Speaking on Instagram on April 2, Cabello revealed that she had planned to spend her Saturday relaxing at her favorite beach club, but she was flooded by self-doubt when she realized that the paparazzi might be there to catch a shot of her in her new bikini. Suddenly, Cabello felt "super vulnerable and unprepared," thinking about times in the past when she'd been subjected to online comments about her body. 

As her post explained, the former "X Factor" contestant knows intellectually that our culture has an unrealistic idea of what a woman's body should look like, and that women try to live up to that ideal through "Photoshop, restrictive eating, over-exercising, and choosing angles that make our bodies look different than how they are...in their natural form." 

Despite her work toward self-acceptance, Cabello admitted that "I'm a single woman in her 20s in the middle of a s*** ton of promo and I want to feel like I look 'good.'" Sadly, the inner struggles experienced by the former Fifth Harmony member turned her day at the beach into a nightmare. 

If you are struggling with an eating disorder, or know someone who is, help is available. Visit the National Eating Disorders Association website or contact NEDA's Live Helpline at 1-800-931-2237. You can also receive 24/7 Crisis Support via text (send NEDA to 741-741).

Knowing that being at a Miami beach club "was gonna be basically a whole photoshoot," Camila Cabello spent her day trying to look good for the cameras that she knew were watching her. "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 were the whole time [that] I couldn't let go and relax and do what we're meant to do when we go out in nature," she disclosed on Instagram. Yearning to feel as uninhibited as the children she saw playing in the waves, Cabello said, "I've never had a worse time at the beach."

The "Havana" singer explained that she wanted to share her thoughts to point out how a fixation with living up to an unrealistic body standard can seriously affect one's mental health. She added that she's in therapy to try to reclaim her "7-year-old me on the beach...Happy, silly, breathing, pretending to be a mermaid, FREE."

The raw and honest post accumulated more than 800,000 likes within hours of going live, with friends and fans offering praise and support. Her friend Danae Mercer wrote, "I am so sorry. And in the same breath, I'm so thankful you've spoken about it. You are a beautiful soul," while mental health advocate and TED Talk star, Victoria Garrick, cheered, "As real as it gets. Thank you for sharing this with the world!!"