Demi Lovato Celebrated Her Stretch Marks With An Empowering Photoshoot & Note

Longtime body positivity advocate Demi Lovato is celebrating her body exactly the way it is with a creative new photoshoot. On Thursday, Dec. 24, the star took to social media to remind her followers to be gentle with themselves at the end of a hard year, and to voice support for others recovering from eating disorders. To illustrate her message, Demi Lovato's Instagram post celebrating her stretch marks voiced that self-love in an unconventional way — by making them shine with glitter!

"I used to genuinely believe recovery from an eating disorder wasn't real," Lovato wrote in the Instagram caption. "That everyone was faking or secretly relapsing behind closed doors. 'Surely she throws up here and there,' 'she can't POSSIBLY accept her cellulite'... those we're just a few of the things that I used to tell myself growing up."

"I'm so grateful that I can honestly say for the first time in my life - my dietitian looked at me and said 'This is what eating disorder recovery looks like.' In honor of my gratitude for the place I'm in today, this was a lil shoot I did by myself in quarantine this summer when I wanted to celebrate my stretch marks instead of being ashamed of them," she continued, explaining that she started wearing golden glitter paint on her stretch marks "to celebrate my body and all of its features (whether society views them as good OR bad)."

"My stretch marks aren't going way so might as well throw a lil glitter on 'em amiright?" the star added.

Lovato concluded by saying, "Let this be a reminder to anyone who doesn't think it's possible: IT ACTUALLY IS...YOU CAN DO IT. I BELIEVE IN YOU. This year was tough.. be gentle on yourself if you slip up and remember to get right back on track because you're WORTH THE MIRACLE OF RECOVERY. I LOVE YOU."

The 28-year-old singer has long been open about working towards self-acceptance amid her years-long battle with bulimia, as well as her treatment for it.

She spoke about life after her 2018 overdose during a March appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, telling DeGeneres, "I think it's important that I sit here on this stage and tell you at home, or you in the audience, or you right here that if you do go through this, you yourself can get through it, you can get to the other side ... As long as you take the responsibility, you can move past it and learn to love yourself the way you deserve to be loved."