After some fans commented on Selena Gomez‘s posture at a recent red carpet event promoting her upcoming Netflix film Emilia Perez, the singer/actress/entrepreneur reportedly responded by revealing a medical condition that she is struggling with.
According to ELLE, after Gomez walked the carpet at the American French Film Festival premiere of the film in Los Angeles last week, comments on TikTok questioned whether that the singer was trying to hide her body with the poses she struck in photos from the premiere in which she wore a black, long-sleeved Carolina Herrera dress with her hands positioned across her stomach.
After reading the comments, Gomez reportedly responded to the comments on the TikTok — which has since been deleted — explaining her body language. “This makes me sick,” Gomez wrote in the comments of the speculation. “I have SEBO [SIBO] in my small intestine. It flares up. I don’t care that I don’t look like a stick figure. I don’t have that body. End of story. No I am NOT a victim. I’m just human.”
According to the Mayo Clinic, SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) is a result of an “abnormal increase in the overall bacterial population in the small intestine — particularly types of bacteria not commonly found in that part of the digestive tract,” also sometimes referred to as “blind loop syndrome.” The condition occurs when a patient’s intestines struggle to absorb fats, carbohydrates and proteins efficiently, which can damage the body, cause weak bones (osteoporosis) and an excess of bacteria in the digestive tract, which can lead to diarrhea, weight loss and malnutrition.
In the past, Gomez has been open about her other health struggles, which include the autoimmune disease lupus; in 2017 she received a kidney transplant and underwent several rounds of chemotherapy.
Gomez co-stars with Zoë Saldaña in the Spanish-language musical Emilia Perez, which will premiere on Netflix on Nov. 13.
