Kim Kardashian Reveals She Has Body Dysmorphia

Kim Kardashian was captured by paparazzi earlier this year in several bikini photos that appeared to show her cellulite and were widely scrutinized in the media. While the 36-year-old reality star paid little mind to the images publicly, she revealed on a recent episode of “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” that constant scrutiny and fat-shaming has led to body dysmorphia.

“You take pictures and people just body shame you,” Kardashian said during Sunday’s episode of the family’s eponymous E! reality series. According to Vogue, she added: “It’s like literally giving me body dysmorphia.”

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), is described by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a “relatively common and severe mental disorder” in which sufferers “believe they look ugly or deformed ... when in reality they look normal.”

When the star’s vacation photos went viral in April, she responded at the time in a since-deleted tweet that “perspective is a bitch.” She later tweeted: “Oh and as for me you ask? ...I'm just sitting here on the beach with my flawless body.”

Kardashian is arguably among the celebrity names who appear most frequently in headlines, whether specifically or in connection to a story about a similarly famous individual in her orbit. In spite of, or perhaps because of this, the mom of two has also been a strong proponent of body positivity.

“I am empowered by my body. I am empowered by my sexuality. I am empowered by feeling comfortable in my skin. I am empowered by showing the world my flaws and not being afraid of what anyone is going to say about me,” she wrote on her website last year. “And I hope that through this platform I have been given, I can encourage the same empowerment for girls and women all over the world.”