Sara Bareilles shared that body insecurities almost kept her from wearing one of the most showstopping dresses to the 2023 Tony Awards on Sunday night.
“I want to share this pic because I almost didn’t wear this dress because I was afraid of the way my back looked,” the “Love Song” singer wrote on Monday in an Instagram story, posted alongside a photo of herself in the stunning Georges Chakra dress.
“I had chosen a different dress to save me from feeling vulnerable,” she added. “I luckily have a partner who calls bullshit on all that garbage and I have a soul that wants to put my money where my mouth is.”
And with that, Bareilles said she “went with the dress that I felt lucky to wear” and “excited to walk around in” and even “a little bit scared of.”
“Wear it. Do it. Say it,” the Grammy Award winner instructed her followers. “Go towards the joy that is on the other side of the fear. And bring your rolls with you.”
Bareilles told her followers on Saturday that she “traditionally” puts her body ― and mind ― through the ringer when trying to prepare for events like the Tonys.
“I go on a real bender of body-shaming and hating and trying to lose weight and get small and hit the gym super hard because there’s some kind of sense in myself that if I don’t present a certain way that I’m not allowed to participate,” she shared with Us Weekly, adding that she is “really trying to rewire” her brain to fix that messaging.
The singer said that these are “old stories and I don’t ascribe to them anymore. I mean, I have to fight really hard not to ascribe.”
“I can just have the body that I have and go have a fucking blast.”
Lucky for all of us, Bareilles indeed donned the “dress of [her] dreams” and walked the Tonys red carpet alongside her partner, Joe Tippett.