Keeping it real and relatable, Nelly Furtado gave her fans the pep talk they needed as they entered 2025.
The 46-year-old artist dropped a couple of candid bikini selfies, along with an unfiltered message that had some confession, some inspiration, and a whole lot of heart.
She revealed that she has never done any kind of cosmetic procedures and also shared what she does for those glitzy red carpet moments.
Nelly Furtado shared an inspiring message about body acceptance and self-love in a recent post
Image credits: nellyfurtado
“HAVE A BODY NEUTRAL 2025,” she wished her fans, “BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, LOVE WITH EVERY INCH OF YOUR HEART. THANKS FOR ALL THE MEMORIES THIS YEAR.”
The Grammy winner said the last year was one of growth for her as she grappled with the “aesthetic pressure” of showbiz.
“This year I became aware of the aesthetic pressure of my work in a brand new way, while simultaneously I experienced new levels of self -love and genuine confidence from within,” she continued.
In the candid confessional, she said she had to pursue some legal action against “a few charlatans” who sell online services based on “health and beauty myths” about her.
She also managed not to succumb to unrealistic pressures perpetuated by the internet and the entertainment industry.
Dressed in an orange bikini, the Grammy winner wished her fans a “body neutral 2025”
Image credits: nellyfurtado
“For whoever cares, I have never had any face or body surgeries or augmentation, besides for veneers on the top row of my teeth, quite recently,” she said.
“So far, I have not had any face or lip injections or fillers of any kind, but I do have a loving, old school facialist who I purchase serums and creams from and I started that when I was 20,” she continued. “The day before photo shoots and red carpets, I drink a lot of water and sleep on my back.”
Image credits: nellyfurtado
“Sometimes on the red carpet or at photo shoots my makeup artist uses face tape to give my eyes, skin and makeup more lift. Sometimes my stylist uses body tape to give a certain look to different silhouettes.”
“Body makeup can also sometimes be contoured to achieve a certain look,” she went on to say. “Makeup can do magical things! So can great eyebrows! So can a great hairstylist! So can great underthings!”
“This year I became aware of the aesthetic pressure of my work in a brand new way,” she said
Image credits: nellyfurtado
Her post was a true celebration of natural beauty, and she was completely herself except for a spray tan.
“These photos I have no makeup and there is no editing or filters on these photos but I do have a spray tan!” she wrote. “I have spider veins and they remind me of my mom and aunties and life so I think that’s why I haven’t parted with them so far.”
The Maneater singer concluded with a heartwarming message on 2025 being a year of self-love and individuality.
“My New Year’s message for 2025, is express yourself freely, celebrate your individuality and know that it’s perfectly OK to be OK with what you see in the mirror, and it’s also OK to want something different,” she wrote. “We are all cute little humans just bouncing around the earth looking for hugs.”
The Portuguese artist, raised in Canada, also said she has never undergone any kind of cosmetic procedures
Image credits: nellyfurtado
“PS- this post is not intended to hate on anyone, I am just joining the storytelling community and this story is MINE,” she added.
In a world filled with filtered pictures and overblown beauty trends, netizens appreciated her honest post and praised her for candidly sharing her story.
Fans called her a “queen,” a “beautiful angel,” and “an absolute gorgeous icon.”
Image credits: Toni Anne Barson/WireImage/Getty Images
“I love everything about you. You are always SO beautiful inside and out,” said one fan while another wrote, “Self love and self respect is the most beautiful glow a woman can emit.”
“HATS OFF for this honest post!!! And respect for embracing your natural self and giving us a glimpse of such a genuine part of yourself,” read a third comment. “Authenticity has always been one of your greatest qualities. Thank you Nelly. You're truly an inspiration. LOOOVEEE!!!”
“For whoever cares, I have never had any face or body surgeries or augmentation,” she wrote
Image credits: nellyfurtado
“Wish more celebrities would explain the tricks of the trade to both women old and young,” a fourth comment said. “I don’t think many folks unless they have worked in the industry in anyway realize how much is done both pre and post production to get these perfect body proportions and flawless skin.”
But like everything on the internet, the post also attracted naysayers who offered some unsolicited advice.
“You let yourself go.. that’s sad!” one said while another wrote, “Being overweight and celebrating it is what’s wrong with society today!”
“Goddammit Nelly!!!! NO! Big NO! Please go to the gym and eat healthy!!! And all the ppl here stop Stop encouraging her!!! This is NOT NICE,” said another critic. “i want old nelly back!!!!!!!!!!!”
Several fans praised her for her authenticity, while naysayers tsk-tsked at her post
Image credits: nellyfurtado
The singer-songwriter, born to Portuguese parents and raised in Canada, is no stranger to the unrealistic beauty standards set by the industry. Earlier this year, she revealed that her face would often be made lighter and her body would be altered back when she was a young, breakout artist.
“I have olive skin, and they'd kind of lighten my skin a lot in photos,” she told People, “and kind of take my hips down all the time—they would always cut off in editorials.”
“By my second album, I guess I was kind of angry about it,” she added.
Image credits: Dia Dipasupil/FilmMagic/Getty Images
The popular artist sang about the “airbrushing” in her song Powerless, which featured on her second album Folklore, released in 2003.
“Paint my face in your magazines / Make it look whiter than it seems / Paint me over with your dreams / Shove away my ethnicity,” she sang.
Nevertheless, Furtado considers herself “lucky and blessed” for not being exposed to worse experiences that her fellow stars went through.
In 2024, Furtado released her first album in seven years with her daughter, Nevis Gahunia
Image credits: nellyfurtado
Image credits: nellyfurtado
“I always had such a good team around me, that was family. My team around me felt so solid and really looking out for my best interests. And I think I was just raised right,” she told the outlet.
“My mom was really strong, and so is her mom, and her mom, and her mom—a very matriarchal family, in general, on both sides, all my grandmothers, and great-grandmothers,” said the artist, who has three children of her own.
“So I was given a really solid kind of sense of assertiveness, I'm going to call it,” she continued. “So that was a good tool for me to navigate the music industry. And I was given really solid advice from a young age, luckily, from very paternal sort of people around me. So I was lucky, I was one of the lucky ones.”
In 2024, the I’m Like a Bird singer released her first album in seven years with her 21-year-old daughter, Nevis Gahunia.
“It was a discovery process for both of us ... I was just a fly on the wall, absorbing as much as I could,” Nevis previously said about making music with her mom for the album, 7.
“Being treated like a colleague in that environment was really special and meaningful,” the youngster continued. “The process a hundred percent brought us closer together, and the level of respect and understanding for each other just evolved into something new that we had never been able to access before.”
“I like this version of her best,” one social media user said about her current look
