Lili Reinhart has opened up to fans and followers about her ongoing battle with body image, choosing to be “vulnerable” about her story with the hope that it will help someone who is struggling in a similar way.
The Riverdale star took to Instagram to reveal that she has “been struggling with obsessive thoughts about my body/weight the last few months and it’s gotten pretty severe in the last week.”
“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,” she shared. “I wish I hadn’t grown up in a time where the media worshipped only one size of women. My body has carried me through 25 years of life. 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.”
The actress then went on to reveal how she would criticize her own body by physically pulling her “skin back tight” to reflect what the industry expected of her.
She noted that she and many young girls and women have experienced the same thing due to living in an “incredibly broken system.”
“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,” Reinhart emphasized, ending her story by urging her followers to “continue to talk about it. Normalize it. Empathize with others. Show compassion and kindness.”