Lili Reinhart is letting her fans know that they aren't alone when it comes one very important topic.
The 25-year-old actress recently opened up about her struggle with self-image, channeling her honest thoughts into a candid Instagram post.
"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," she wrote on her IG Story Jan. 13. "So, I want to take a moment to be vulnerable and share this in hope that any of you who are also struggling don't feel so alone."
The Riverdale star added, "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. 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."
And although she noted her journey is a continuous process, she hopes to one day learn to fully celebrate her beautiful self. "My body has carried me through 25 years of life," Reinhart continued. "All my scars, tears, trauma…I wish I could love it more, even when it doesn't look like it did when I was 20. But I am trying. I know my body deserves equal love and admiration at any size."
Reinhart also opened up about the emotional toll stemming from her experience, one many may relate to. "To not feel at home in my own skin is a devastating feeling," she added. "As if my body betrayed me by changing. 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 are concerned with what our bodies look like. That's an incredibly broken system."
Speaking directly to her fans, she concluded, "I know I'm not alone in this toxic way of thinking about my body. And it's heartbreaking that this feeling is understood by so many of us. Let's continue to talk about it. Normalize it. Empathize with others. Show compassion and kindness."
Through the years, Reinhart has opened up about her mental health and body image battles with the hope of spreading awareness and making her followers feel less alone.
On the set of Riverdale, "I've felt very insecure due to the expectation that people have for women on tv, what they should look like," she tweeted in 2020. "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."
She later added, "And I want other young women to see my body on tv and feel comfort in the fact that I'm not a size 0. And I'm not a perfect hourglass shape."