When Selena Gomez attended the Screen Actors Guild Awards last weekend, the conversation quickly diverted away from her Best Ensemble in a Comedy Series victory towards the shape of her body.
The Only Murders in the Building and Emilia Perez star wore a navy off-shoulder dress by Celine, and the internet was quick to attribute Gomez’s appearance to popular diabetes drug, Ozempic, which has weight loss side effects. ‘She caved and got Ozempic I see,’ reads one comment on social media. ‘Awards season Ozempic 24mg, pathetic,’ reads another. A third person wrote, ‘She was a whale a couple of weeks ago. It’s magic.’ These comments are cruel in isolation, but they are particularly stark when compared with the ones left under a photo of her at the 2024 SAG Awards too.
Those comments include, ‘really not to be mean, but it’s time for Ozempic’, ‘she’s an absolute unit’ and ‘I remember when she used to be hot’, to list a few.
Body positivity journalist Alex Light presented them side by side on Instagram. ‘I know – another day, another one of these “women can’t win” posts from me… but bear with me bear with me,’ she wrote. ‘Selena was mocked last year at the SAG Awards for putting on weight, told to go on Ozempic. At this year’s SAG Awards, she’s slammed for losing weight, mocked for allegedly being on Ozempic.’
‘This isn’t just about Selena,’ Light added, ‘it’s about the impossible standards placed on all women – in the public eye or not.’
It’s clearly a message that struck a chord with Twilight actor Taylor Lautner too. He shared Light’s post on his Instagram story and wrote, ‘It’s a cruel world full of hate out there.’ It is thought that the pair briefly dated in 2009 when they were both in Vancouver shooting films – Lautner was working on New Moon and Gomez was filming Romana and Beezus. The relationship might not have lasted long but they have remained friends and have always had positive things to say about one another.
‘You can never please everyone nor should you have to. In my experience it doesn’t make the words sting less, it just refocuses you onto what matters,’ he continued. ‘And it sure isn’t the shape, colour or appearance of your body. Daily reminder to all of us to not forget how beautiful you are inside and out… and to be a little bit nicer.'
Gomez has had to deal with body shaming comments for years and years. In 2022, after facing similar trolling because of her weight, the actor told fans, ‘I don’t care about my weight because people b*tch about it anyways. "You’re too small", "You’re too big", "That doesn’t fit". B*tch, I am perfect the way I am.’
The following year, she once again attempted to shut down the toxic and misogynistic conversation about her body by reminding people that she lives with a chronic autoimmune disease. In 2017, Gomez had a kidney transplant after being diagnosed with Lupus and the symptoms include fatigue and swelling. She explained that when she is taking the medication she ‘holds a lot of water weight’.
‘I would much rather be healthy and take care of myself,’ she added. ‘My medications are important, and I believe that they’re what helps me.’ Light and Lautner are right to jump to Gomez’s defence and remind people that it is impossible to win in this era of relentless online trolling – particularly as women. While we hope Gomez is able to ignore the hate, there is no denying that these misogynistic and unkind remarks carry weight in numbers. Not only do they send a message to Gomez that she is not good enough, but they send that message to everyone.
Nikki Peach is a writer at Grazia UK, working across pop culture, TV and news. She has also written for the i, i-D and the New Statesman Media Group and covers all things TV for Grazia (treating high and lowbrow shows with equal respect).