Lili Reinhart Opened Up About Her Struggle with "Severe" Body Image Issues

Lili Reinhart is getting candid about her struggles with negative body image. This week, the actress, who has previously been honest about her ongoing battle with anxiety and depression, opened up about having "obsessive" thoughts about her weight lately and the devastating toll it's taking on her mental health in a series of powerful messages posted to her Instagram Story.

"I've been struggling with obsessive thoughts about my body/weight the last few months and it's gotten pretty severe in the last week," Lili wrote, adding that she wanted to be "vulnerable and share" her experience "in hope that any of you who are also struggling don't feel so alone."

She continued, "I'm here with you. It's challenging to look at your body with love instead of criticism. It's a practice I'm still learning." Lili went on to explain that her fame has had an impact on how she values her self-worth. "I didn't think being in this industry, that is so obsessed with womens' bodies and weights, could ever mess with my own body acceptance and positivity…but it has. I wish I hadn't grown up in a time where the media worshipped only one size of women."

Reflecting on Hollywood's toxic beauty standards, the Riverdale star added, "I've looked in the mirror and pulled my skin back tight to see what I should look like. What I'm expected to look like.. in an industry where you're -inconvenient- when not a sample size."

"It's painful to think hundreds of millions of us are so concerned with what our bodies look like," she said. "That's an incredibly broken system. Somewhere along the line, humanity really f---ed this one up." Lili concluded her note by saying that she knows she's not alone in her way of thinking and that it's a "heartbreaking" reality. Before signing off, she encouraged her fans to "continue to talk about it. Normalize it. Empathize with others. Show compassion and kindness."

This isn't the first time Lili has discussed her body insecurities. Back in 2020, she tweeted about she how can sometimes feel intimidated by her Riverdale co-stars "chiseled" bodies — especially when she has to film scenes in her bra and underwear.

"I've felt very insecure due to the expectation that people have for women on tv, what they should look like," she wrote. "But I have come to terms with my body and that I'm not the kind of person you would see walking on a runway during fashion week." Lili noted that she hoped her body gave other young women "comfort in the fact that I'm not a size 0. And I'm not a perfect hourglass shape."