Singer Sam Smith is opening up about his longtime battle with the bulge.
The Grammy and Oscar winner who uses they/them pronouns — revealed that they went under the knife as a teenager during early struggles with being obese.
“For me, it was always my weight,” Smith, 33, shared in the latest episode of the “Podcrushed” podcast. “My weight as a kid was the hardest thing for me in school, and weirdly the thing I probably got teased the most about.”
They told host Penn Badgley: “I had surgery on my chest when I was 13 years old because I had a growing chest. There was all sorts of reasons why, but mainly that I was just getting so teased. I couldn’t go swimming in school, and getting changed in the locker room was hell. So I got liposuction when I was 13 years old.”
When probed by the former “Gossip Girl” heartthrob about his parent’s reaction to having the invasive cosmetic surgery procedure — that uses a suction technique to remove fat and shape specific areas of the bod — at such a young age, Smith said they were in his corner: “They were hugely supportive of the whole thing because they saw how much it was crippling everything about me.”
But the liposuction didn’t yield the results he expected due to his lack of lifestyle change and poor eating habits.
“It was all a struggle with food and stuff, and the liposuction, it worked, but it was also a nightmare,” the “Unholy” singer confessed. “Because they gave me a bandage which is like a bra … I was only meant to wear it for a month, but if I wore the bandage, it meant that I would get to the front of the lunch queue because everyone had to be sensitive about my chest. So I just kept this bandage on for nearly a year.”
Smith continued: “I’d be like, ‘Ooh, don’t come close to me,’ and I’d get first in the lunch queue, and I’d just eat more and eat more. So the surgery never really worked because I just love food.”
The 33-year-old London native, who announced that they will use they/them pronouns in 2019, gained attention when they unveiled a smaller frame after shedding 14 pounds in 2015.
On social media, Smith credited former personal assistant to Prince Charles-turned- British eating expert Amelia Freer and her bestselling book “Eat. Nourish. Glow.” for the weight loss transformation.
“Three weeks ago I met a woman who has completely changed my life … and has completely transformed my relationship with food,” they shared in a since-deleted Instagram post. “Everyone go check out her incredible book, and start to live healthy. It’s not even about weight loss it’s about feeling happy in yourself.”