Sam Smith Opens Up About Body Issues, Dealing with Fat Shaming

Out singer Sam Smith took to Instagram this week to open up about battling with his body image and how he deals with online fat shaming.

Posting a shirtless selfie Monday, which he says usually gives him anxiety, the "Too Good at Goodbyes" singer discussed his body issues with his fans.

"In the past if I have ever done a photoshoot with so much as a t-shirt on, I have starved myself for weeks in advance and then picked and prodded at every picture and then normally taken the picture down," Smith, 26, wrote on Instagram. "Yesterday I decided to fight the fuck back. Reclaim my body and stop trying to change this chest and these hips and these curves that my mum and dad made and love so unconditionally."

The Oscar winner went on to say that the photoshoot with photographer Ryan Pfluger represents a change in the way in which he looks at his own body.

"Some may take this as narcissistic and showing off but if you knew how much courage it took to do this and the body trauma I have experienced as a kid you wouldn't think those things," Smith explained. "Thank you for helping me celebrate my body AS IT IS @ryanpfluger I have never felt safer than I did with you. I'll always be at war with this bloody mirror but this shoot and this day was a step in the right fucking direction."

Pfluger commented on the photos on his own Instagram, saying that the photos with Smith reminded him of his master's thesis about how "photography is therapy."

"Thank you for trusting me to facilitate photographs that empower your ownership of your body and mine," he wrote. "I honestly wish everyone relinquished themselves to the experience like you did."

This isn't the first time Smith has shared his feelings about his body. In 2015, he talked about abuse he suffered and body dysmorphia in the gay community.

People magazine notes Smith lost 50 lbs. between 2015 and 2016.

Check out Smith's photos below.