Gabourey Sidibe Had Secret Weight-Loss Surgery, After Battling Depression & Bulimia

Gabourey Sidibe Had Secret Weight-Loss Surgery

Gabourey Sidibe has revealed that she privately underwent a weight loss surgery. The 33-year-old ‘Empire’ actress shares the news in her upcoming memoir, This Is Just My Face: Try Not to Stare. Last May, she decided to have the laparoscopic bariatric surgery, after she and her brother Ahmed, 34, were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Sidibe explains,

I just didn’t want to worry. 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.

In her book she writes,

My surgeon said they’d cut my stomach in half. 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.

Sidibe adds,

I wasn’t cheating by getting it done. I wouldn’t have been able to lose as much as I’ve lost without it.

In her memoir, she also reveals that she battled depression, anxiety and bulimia after her parents split when she was a child.

It has taken me years to realize that what I was born with is all beautiful. I did not get this surgery to be beautiful. I did it so I can walk around comfortably in heels. I want to do a cartwheel. I want not to be in pain every time I walk up a flight of stairs.

Since having the surgery, Sidibe has lost weight. She continues to workout and has been working on her diet with a nutritionist. She states,

I have a goal right now, and I’m almost there. 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.

While Sidibe wants to continue to lose weight, she doesn’t want to be skinny, writing in her book:

I know I’m beautiful in my current face and my current body. What I don’t know about is the next body. I admit it, I hope to God I don’t get skinny. If I could lose enough to just be a little chubby, I’ll be over the moon! Will I still be beautiful then? S–t. Probably. My beauty doesn’t come from a mirror. It never will.

Sidibe’s memoir will be released May 1.

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