Grimes has begun shaving her body hair to rebel against people 'policing' her body

Grimes says she has begun shaving her body hair for the first time after people began trying to "police her body".

The singer, whose real name is Claire Boucher, was often pictured with unshaven underarm and leg hair both in fashion shoots and in the photographs she shares with her 469,000 followers on Instagram.

She spoke about her decision to “rebel” against her previous stance by shaving during an interview with Stella McCartney for Teen Vogue. The 27-year-old said she needed to reassert her right to do what she wants with her body.

“I just started shaving for the first time this year,” she said. “I am rebelling against my previous body hair, because now people get mad when I shave my legs. So I’m like, ‘I have the right to shave my legs.’ I think people policing my body either way is bizarre.”

McCartney, who has chosen her as the face of her new fragrance campaign, told Grimes she was asked whether she wanted to retouch her body hair after shooting the campaign, to which McCartney said: “No way.”

Grimes said there is still an “intense vibe in society” when it comes to body hair.

“No one I’ve ever dated has mentioned it. I didn’t even think it was weird until I started doing fashion and people would be putting concealer over my legs.”

Girls actress Jemima Kirke sent the internet into a storm in October after showing up to one of fashion’s most prestigious events, the CFDA awards in New York, with unshaved armpits. She responded to the reaction with a similarly natural picture of Sophia Loren and saying she was bored of her armpits being a talking point.

Recently, a throwback photograph of Leonardo DiCaprio as a child with his parents attracted vast amounts of attention for all the wrong reasons as commenters honed in on the fact that his mother had unshaven armpits in the photo believed to have been taken in 1976.