Gabourey Sidibe Speaks Out About Weight Loss Surgeries

Precious and Empire actress Gaborey Sidibe underwent weight loss surgery last year, and is opening up about her experiences.

GABOUREY SIDIBE OPENS UP ABOUT WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY

Sidibe, 33, is releasing a new memoir in May, entitled This Is Just My Face: Try Not To Stare. In it, she speaks about her struggles with her weight, depression, anxiety, and bulimia.

She shared with People that she decided to get laproscopic bariatric surgery because her 34-year-old brother Ahmen was recently diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. “I just didn’t want to worry,” she said. “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.”

The actress tried to lose weight naturally for over a decade before deciding to go the surgical route in May 2016. “My surgeon said they’d cut my stomach in half,” she writes in her memoir. “This would limit my hunger and capacity to eat. My brain chemistry would change and I’d want to eat healthier. I’ll take it! My lifelong relationship with food had to change. The surgery wasn’t the easy way out. I wasn’t cheating by getting it done. I wouldn’t have been able to lose as much as I’ve lost without it.”

Since the procedure was done, Sidibe has worked with a nutritionist to help her stick with her new eating habits. While on set of Empire, the actress swims and rides a tricycle for exercise. “I have a goal right now, and I’m almost there,” she explains. “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.”

After dealing with obesity and image issues, Sidibe is finally loving her own body. “There is nothing ugly about me,” she says. “Anyone trying to convince me that I am — and it’s usually me — is wasting their 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.”