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Gabourey Sidibe is opening up about her weight-loss journey.
Last year the “Empire” star, 33, opted to undergo laparoscopic bariatric surgery, after a long-term battle with depression, anxiety and bulimia. Now, the actress who recently dropped her memoir, This Is Just My Face: Try Not to Stare, is getting candid with fans revealing that her surgery “wasn’t the easy way out,” but a precautionary move.
“I just didn’t want to worry,” Sidibe, told People of her decision to undergo surgery after she and her older brother Ahmed, 34, were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. “I truly didn’t want to worry about all the effects that go along with diabetes. I genuinely [would] worry all the time about losing my toes.”
According to the Precious star, she only opted to go under the knife after more than a decade of failed attempts to lose weight naturally. “My surgeon said they’d cut my stomach in half. This would limit my hunger and capacity to eat. My brain chemistry would change and I’d want to eat healthier,” she wrote in her memoir of her May 2016 procedure. “The surgery wasn’t the easy way out,” she continued. “I wasn’t cheating by getting it done. I wouldn’t have been able to lose as much as I’ve lost without it.”
“The surgery wasn’t the easy way out,” she continued. “I wasn’t cheating by getting it done. I wouldn’t have been able to lose as much as I’ve lost without it.”
The “American Horror Story” alum went on to add that she didn’t take the decision lightly. In fact, from the age of 6 on, the New York City native struggled with her appearance. “It has taken me years to realize that what I was born with is all beautiful,” she writes. “I did not get this surgery to be beautiful. I did it so I can walk around comfortably in heels. I want to do a cartwheel. I want not to be in pain every time I walk up a flight of stairs.”
Now, nearly a year later, Sidibe revealed she’s still shedding pounds. “I have a goal right now, and I’m almost there,” she said. “And then once I’ve got it, I’ll set another. But my starting weight and my goal weight, they’re personal. If too many people are involved, I’ll shut down.”
That being said, she’s come to appreciate her curves and doesn’t want to part ways with her womanly figure entirely. “I know I’m beautiful in my current face and my current body. What I don’t know about is the next body,” she writes in This Is Just My Face. “I admit it, I hope to God I don’t get skinny. If I could lose enough to just be a little chubby, I’ll be over the moon! Will I still be beautiful then? S—. Probably. My beauty doesn’t come from a mirror. It never will.
“There’s nothing ugly about me. Anyone trying to convince me that I am — and it’s usually me — is wasting her time. I was in a war with my body for a long time. If I’d started treating it better sooner, I wouldn’t have spent so many years hating myself. But I love my body now.”
