Bebe Rexha Talks PCOS Diagnosis and Body Image

Since the internet can’t seem to stop talking about her body size, Bebe Rexha is talking about polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which can cause rapid weight gain in patients, per the Mayo Clinic

On The Jennifer Hudson Show on May 25, the pop star talked a bit about her diagnosis and how common the condition actually is (according to the CDC, PCOS affects as many as 5 million women in the US), and clapped back at the commenters who haven’t learned that body-shaming hasn’t been cute in at least 20 years. (Or, well, ever.)

Back in April, Rexha took to Twitter to call out social media users who had been commenting on her weight, writing, “A bitch likes to eat!” When Hudson asked about her body-positive message, Rexha explained, “When you see things like that, it does mess with you. Because you don’t know what somebody’s going through. But I feel like, We’re in 2023. We should not be talking about people’s weight.” Case in point, those commenters can’t have known that Rexha had just been diagnosed with PCOS.

“I went to the doctor last year—and a lot of women actually have this and they don’t know about it—but they diagnosed me with PCOS, which is polycystic ovary syndrome,” Rexha said. “I literally jumped, like, 30 pounds so quickly, maybe a little bit more. But we gotta just be positive and just show people love.”

Rexha isn’t the only celeb who’s been open about their diagnosis. Pretty Little Liars star Sasha Pieterse, for instance, revealed her diagnosis on Dancing With the Stars in 2017 and said that she also rapidly gained weight. “[It was] one of the hardest things I’ve ever been through,” she said, per E! News. “I had no idea what was going on and I didn’t have any way of solving it.” Pieterse said she also received a barrage of body-shaming online. 

At the end of the day, it shouldn’t actually matter if someone gains weight because of PCOS or some other reason. Like Bebe Rexha says: It’s 2023. Why are we still talking about this?

Originally Appeared on Glamour