Pop star Shawn Mendes has spoken before about his complicated relationship with body image, including how the “expectation to be hot” led him to place pressure on himself to work out at the expense of his own wellbeing, skipping sleep in order to hit the gym for two hours every day.
These days, however, he is in a much better place when it comes to how he views his own physique, and he makes sure to prioritize mindfulness and balance over aesthetics. “Taking that extra few hours of sleep, instead of waking up to pump iron, is a better choice sometimes,” he told GQ in 2020.
And his philosophy appears to be paying off. The 24-year-old singer looks completely at ease in new vacation photos acquired by People, in which he bares his lean abs and jacked biceps, while hanging out with friends on a boat in just his swim shorts.
Mendes was chilling in Ibiza over the weekend following his breakup with singer Camila Cabello, before heading over to Ireland to play a gig in Dublin as part of his on-going 2023 tour. He was originally scheduled to tour Europe and the United Kingdom last year, but withdrew from performing in order to focus on his mental health.
“I wasn’t totally prepared for the toll that being back on the road would take on me,” he said at the time, explaining that he was working with an “incredible group of health professionals” and taking some much-needed time for self-care so that he would be able to “come back stronger.”
Philip Ellis is News Editor at Men’s Health, covering fitness, pop culture, sex and relationships, and LGBTQ+ issues. His work has appeared in GQ, Teen Vogue, Man Repeller and MTV, and he is the author of Love & Other Scams.
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