If you're Demi Lovato, you don't hide your stretch marks, you let them shine. Or rather, sparkle.
The 28-year-old pop star, a longtime advocate of body positivity and acceptance, who battled bulimia for years and sought treatment for it, shared photos of her stretch marks highlighted with gold glitter on Instagram over the Christmas holiday.
"I used to genuinely believe recovery from an eating disorder wasn't real," she wrote. "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."
She continued, "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."
Lovato said she started wearing glitter paint on her stretch marks to "celebrate my body and all of it's features (whether society views them as good OR bad)."
"My stretch marks aren't going away so might as well throw a lil glitter on em' amiright?" she wrote. "Also 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."
Lovato continued, "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."
Lovato has been open about her past personal struggles, including her eating disorder, and has occasionally shared candid photos of her body and its imperfections. See her and other stars' inspiring quotes about body positivity over the years: