Last night, Cosmo ME took to the red carpet for the opening ceremony of El Gouna Film Festival 2020. From Tara Emad to Huda El Mufti, we caught up with some of the biggest celebs in the Arab world, one of whom in particular had an important message to young girls. 

Arwa Gouda spoke exclusively to Cosmo about how social media can effect mental health. “With Instagram,  everyone becomes a celebrity – not only us,” the Egyptian actress said. “We are onstantly fearing the judgement of others, we’re constantly trying to feel better about ourselves by looking at other people’s page. This has been said a million times: don’t believe everything you see online. You only portray the nicest parts of your life and its very unhealthy.”

The former model continues, “The reality of what people see: we spent two hours doing make-up, two hours doing our hair, we go for a thousand fittings with designers, and most of dresses are lent from designers. We are photoshopped in images and videos, so do not put anyone on a pedestal. The most important part is looking after your health.”

Make sure you’re following Cosmo ME on Instagram, so you don’t miss any of the El Gouna Film Festival action. 

Click here to see our best dressed celebs from the openingÂ