Evangeline Lilly shares a mirror selfie, says her body ‘is not a trend’

Evangeline Lilly is feeling herself.

On Wednesday, the 41-year-old actress shared several selfies of herself wearing a black cutout swimsuit and rocking a short haircut. She also shared a video of herself dancing in front of the mirror as well. In her caption, she admitted that she had recently been "feeling myself and my body in a new way."

"That day, bed-head, no make-up, sticky in the Hawaii heat, I felt connected to myself, my power and my beauty in way that felt unapologetic, grown and autonomous. I snapped some posey pictures, until a song swept me up in movement my favourite way to stretch, strengthen, feel and express!" Lilly wrote.

She added that as she was initially deciding on a caption, she thought about explaining that she did not want her body to be seen as a trend as it has always served an important function in her life as a friend, companion and queen, among other things. After deciding those feelings were just for her, she was inspired to still share them anyway.

"I saw a post by the lovely @georgia.clarke (whom I follow) and it implored other women to pick up the call and to hashtag #mybodyisnotatrend," she explained. "So I am posting now, speaking out what I feel. I hope it implores you to feel your own beauty, in your own way, today and always, in the face of such great pressure. I am beautiful. You are beautiful. My body is not a trend."

Fans took to the comments to praise Lilly for her transparency.

"Your body is your home. Your body is YOU. It should never be a trend!!!" a fan wrote.

"This is why I look up to you so much. You are not afraid to be yourself and you don't care what others think. You live your life at its fullest and that motivates me to do the same," someone said.

"YOU ARE SO BEAUTIFUL OMG," a commenter added.

This is not the first time that Lilly has spoken about body confidence. In a previous Instagram post, she admitted that exercising with the intention of feeling good has changed her perspective on her body image.

"I wish I could tell you I have the courage to stare down bulges and bumps, spider veins and varicose veins, sagging and spotting and see beauty, but most of the time I’m not that badass. SO...when things aren’t where I want them to be with my body, but I’ve decided to make a change, I don’t look," she wrote. "I get my workout gear on and make sure it’s loose on the bits I don’t want to face...and I just get to the work. I focus on the feelings of struggle or release, I focus on the music or the scenery, I let my mind wander away from myself...into my imagination or the world. I do that for as long as it takes to FEEL good. Once I FEEL good, what I see in the mirror looks better...whether it’s changed or not."

In a 2018 interview with Shape, Lilly also said of working out, "In my 20s exercise was about reaching goals in strength, speed, agility, and capability. But the stage I'm in now calls for balance, so I've begun stretching a lot more. Stretching relaxes you and keeps your muscles from tensing up, but it also strengthens you. I don't think I was aware of that before."

Read more from Yahoo Life:

• Paulina Porizkova opens up about accepting ‘what I really look like’ in unretouched photos

• D'Arcy Carden: 'Some of my biggest life lessons have come from the lowest points in my life'

• Catt Sadler on being more 'unguarded': 'There are days I get nervous before talking to my therapist'

Want lifestyle and wellness news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here for Yahoo Life’s newsletter.