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Sam Smith reveals struggle with body image in shirtless Instagram post

The Grammy Award-winner shared his struggles with body image, writing that he is looking to "reclaim my body."
Sam Smith
"I'll always be at war with this bloody mirror," Smith shared.John Phillips / Getty Images
/ Source: TODAY

Sam Smith has to decided to "fight back" and reclaim his body image after revealing a longtime struggle with accepting his appearance.

The Grammy-winning British singer posted a shirtless photo of himself on Instagram with a message of empowerment, saying he wanted to "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 Instagram post contains graphic language).

Smith admitted that, previously, he would never do a shirtless photo shoot without feeling anguish and anxiety.

"In the past if I have ever done a photo shoot 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,'' he wrote.

He also had a message for anyone who might dub the shot by photographer Ryan Pfluger as "narcissistic" or "showing off."

"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,'' he wrote. "I’ll always be at war with this bloody mirror but this shoot and this day was a step in the right f***ing direction."

Smith, who's usually photographed looking sharp in a suit, has been open in the past about his dramatic weight loss in 2015 in the wake the success of his 2014 debut album, "In the Lonely Hour." He lost about 50 pounds with the help of nutritionist Amelia Freer.

"My relationship with food has just completely changed,'' he told Natalie Morales on TODAY in 2015.

He also has opened up about being bullied for being gay and overweight as a kid, saying the latter bothered him more.

"When someone calls you gay, there's not much you can do about that, because I am, whereas if someone calls you fat, there is something you can do about that,'' he told Natalie.