Selena Gomez has admitted to struggling after being “attacked” for gaining weight following her lupus diagnosis.

The chart-topping singer, 27, was diagnosed with lupus in 2015 and later underwent a kidney transplant due to complications from the autoimmune disease.

She said a combination of her medication and other “health issues” regularly affects her weight and admitted she “really noticed” when people commented on her body.

Selena Gomez
Selena Gomez has hit out at people who make comments about her weight (Matt Crossick/PA)

She said: “It’s the medication I have to take for the rest of my life – it depends on even the month, to be honest.

“So for me, I really noticed when people started attacking me for that. And in reality, that’s just my truth. I fluctuate. It depends what’s happening in my life.”

Speaking on Raquelle Stevens’s podcast Giving Back Generation, Gomez added: “That got to me big time. That really messed me up for a bit.”

Gomez, who is back in the charts with her singles Lose You To Love Me and Look At Her Now, said she is currently “very happy with living my life” and limits her time with social media.

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“I don’t care to expose myself to everyone and hear what they have to say about it,” she said.

Hours after her podcast appearance, Gomez showed off new matching tattoos she had inked with her close friend, the singer-songwriter Julia Michaels.

Both women got matching arrows on their hands as a sign of friendship. Alongside a picture of the tattoos on Instagram, Gomez wrote: “My arrow points to you forever.”