[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
This is so beyond anything we’ve ever heard… And so very sad.
On the new episode of the Podcrushed podcast, Sam Smith (who uses they/them pronouns) got real about their experience of being bullied in school for their weight — and the shocking way they dealt with it. While speaking to host Penn Badgley, the singer recalled:
“For me, it was always my weight. My weight was the hardest thing for me in school, and weirdly the thing I probably got teased the most about.”
Continuing, the Like I Can artist admitted to getting surgery as young as 13 (!!!):
“I had surgery on my chest when I was 13 years old because I had a growing chest. There was all sorts of reasons why, but mainly that I was just getting so teased. I couldn’t go swimming in school, and getting changed in the locker room was hell. So I got liposuction when I was 13 years old.”
Wow. That’s so heartbreaking to hear. We can’t imagine having to deal with not only the trials and tribulations of being a young teen, but also surgeries! At such a young age. Poor Sam…
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When Penn asked how the Grammy winner’s family felt about the surgeries, they said:
“They were supportive. They were hugely supportive of the whole thing because they saw how much it was crippling everything about me.”
The operations didn’t immediately solve Sam’s problems, though. The I’m Not The Only One singer said their insecurities after the surgeries was an entirely new “nightmare”:
“It was all a struggle with food and stuff, and the liposuction, it worked, but it was also a nightmare. Because they gave me a bandage which is like a bra … I was only meant to wear it for a month, but if I wore the bandage, it meant that I would get to the front of the lunch queue because everyone had to be sensitive about my chest. So I just kept this bandage on for nearly a year.”
And saddest of all, even after all that, the surgery results weren’t lasting:
“I’d be like, ‘Ooh, don’t come close to me,’ and I’d get first in the lunch queue, and I’d just eat more and eat more. So the surgery never really worked because I just love food.”
Knowing all of this, it just makes Sam’s journey into accepting themselves and their body positivity even sweeter. They’ve come such a long way and it’s so heartwarming to see the self-acceptance they have now. We love that.
You can watch the full podcast episode (below):
Reactions, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments (below).
[Image via Patricia Schlein/WENN.com/Sam Smith/YouTube]
