Celebrity4 min(s) read
Published 17:17 17 Jan 2022 GMT
Lili Reinhart opened up about her struggle with mental health, saying she's been dealing with "obsessive thoughts" about her body image in the last few months.
The Riverdale star, 25, took to her Instagram Story to share a candid message with her 29 million followers.
"I've been struggling with obsessive thoughts about my body/weight the last few months and it's gotten pretty severe in the last week," Reinhart, 25, wrote.
"So, I want to take a moment to be vulnerable and share this in hope that any of you who are also struggling don't feel so alone."
Reinhart added that it can be "challenging to look at your body with love instead of criticism."
"It's a practice I'm still learning," she said. "I didn't think being in this industry, that is so obsessed with women's bodies and weights, could ever mess with my own body acceptance and positivity … but it has. I wish I hadn't grown up in a time where the media worshipped only one size of women."
Reinhart, who's previously spoken about seeing a therapist, finished by saying she's working on loving her body more. "My body has carried me through 25 years of life," she wrote.
"All my scars, tears, trauma…I wish I could love it more, even when it doesn't look like it did when I was 20. But I am trying. I know my body deserves equal love and admiration at any size."
She went on: "To not feel at home in my own skin is a devastating feeling. As if my body has betrayed me by changing.
"I've looked in the mirror and pulled my skin back tight to see what I *should* look like. What I'm expected to look like.. in an industry where you're -inconvenient- when not a sample size."
"It's painful to think hundreds of millions of us are so concerned with what our bodies look like. That's an incredibly broken system. Somewhere along the line, humanity really f***ed this one up."
Reinhart noted: "I know I'm not alone in this toxic way of thinking about my body. And it's heartbreaking that this feeling is understood by so many of us."
She ended by urging her followers to "continue to talk about it. Normalize it. Empathize with others. Show compassion and kindness."
In May last year, the star opened up about living with depression for 11 years.
"Some days I feel really defeated by my depression," she wrote on her Instagram Story at the time. "It's an exhausting battle that I've been fighting for 11 years and some days, like today, it can feel intolerable."
She reminded her "fellow warriors" that "it's okay to have days where you don't want to fight anymore," adding: "You don't need to justify your mental health to anyone."
Reinhart noted it's important to "prioritize yourself when needed, take time to rest. Surround yourself with good people and high vibrations."
"But remember you are always worth fighting for," she continued. "And tomorrow could be such a beautiful day."
