‘Be a little bit nicer’: Taylor Lautner defends Selena Gomez against relentless body shamers

Taylor Lautner spoke out to defend Selena Gomez after she was attacked by relentless body shamers following her 2025 SAG Awards appearance.

Unfortunately, Gomez has dealt with body shaming for years. While no one should feel like they have to explain or defend their appearance, she has been forced to disclose more than one medical condition in an attempt to get shamers to back off. Gomez lives with lupus, which led to her undergoing a kidney transplant in 2017. To educate body shamers, she has been open about how her medications impact her appearance. Even so, the worst body shamers have continued to comment and speculate on her body. In November of 2024, she was forced to disclose her struggles with small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) after internet users scrutinized her appearance at an Emilia Pérez event.

Gomez has been a big part of the year’s award seasons due to her acclaimed performances in Emilia Pérez and Only Murders in the Building. While the focus should only be on her career and accomplishments, body-shaming comments were made against her at the SAG Awards. Fortunately, multiple celebrities have come to her defense.

Celebrities call out body shamers’ contradictory insults

Shortly after the SAG Awards, influencer Alex Light and actor Taylor Lautner both spoke out to defend Gomez. Author and body confidence influencer Light shared an Instagram post comparing the comments Gomez received at the 2024 SAG Awards to those at the 2025 SAG Awards. Gomez looks absolutely stunning in both images. However, in 2024, she was fat-shamed by cruel internet trolls who were apparently triggered by the fact that her body wasn’t the same as it was when she was a child actor. In 2025, they were angered that Gomez appeared to have lost some weight, as they accused her of using Ozempic and complained that she looked better than before.

Light referred to it as a “women can’t win” post, and that’s sadly true. However, it reminds women to do what’s best for themselves and their bodies rather than the public. These trolls don’t even know what they want or what they’re saying. They’re just desperate to insult women.

Soon, Lautner reshared Light’s post on his Instagram Story with a personal message to the body shamers. He agreed with Light that we live in “a cruel world full of hate” and that one “can never please everyone.” However, he also acknowledged that it doesn’t make the hatred “sting less.” Still, he hoped it helped people refocus on what matters instead of “the shape, color or appearance of your body.” He concluded, “Daily reminder to all of us to not forget how beautiful you are inside and out … and to be a little bit nicer.”

Both Light and Lautner make excellent points, and it’s heartwarming to see celebrities and influencers come to defend Gomez. It’s especially important that men speak out against body shaming. It’s well-known that it’s predominantly fragile, insecure, and lonely men who feel the need to attack women who are more successful than they’ll ever be. They need every example they can get of how decent men with basic empathy act. The way Lautner speaks about and defends women should be the norm for men rather than an occasion so rare that it’s newsworthy.