Shawn Mendes has candidly recalled how he used to be teased by high school bullies over his singing.
The 20-year-old singer took to Instagram on Sunday to reflect on his journey to stardom, sharing a gallery of snaps and video clips of key moments from his career. And in the caption of the post, the hitmaker revealed he was bullied at high school after he shared a clip of himself singing online.
"I’m thinking about being in 9th grade right now. The day after I posted one of my first covers onto YouTube back in 2014," the Stitches singer wrote. "At school walking down the hall straight into a group of older guys yelling out 'sing for me Shawn sing for me!' In a way that made me feel absolutely horrible... made me feel like a joke, like what I was doing was just stupid & wrong.
"I was lucky though, I had the best friends & the best parents anyone could ask for... no matter what they would never let me stop doing what I LOVED to do just because someone ELSE thought it was stupid," he added.
The Treat You Better star went on to urge fans to pay no attention to other people's opinions, and insisted, "every single person deserves to do what makes them feel alive".
"I know it’s not just that easy & I’m not asking you to change your world over night," the Grammy nominee continued. "BUT I want you to know that no matter how old you are, no matter who you are, no matter where you’re from... you deserve to follow your heart. I'm here & I’m rooting for you."
A number of Shawn's celebrity pals took to the comments section of the post to praise the star for his candid note.
"This is beautiful," his Senorita duet partner Camila Cabello wrote, while former One Direction star Niall Horan added, "Couldn’t relate or agree with something more If I tried... we had the last laugh."
