Throughout his NBA career, New Orleans Pelicans star Zion Williamson has been criticized for his weight, and the 22-year-old discussed last week how he has been affected by it.

Williamson told Melissa Rohlin of Fox Sports that not enough consideration was given to the fact that he was recovering from foot surgery, which caused him to miss the 2021-22 season.

"That's nasty because with a lower-body injury, that dictates how you walk, that dictates how you run, how you do everyday activities and how you move," Williamson said. "For the world to critique me like that and all I was trying to do was make sure my foot was straight? It was a lot. I'm not going to lie to you—it was a lot."

Williamson also said he doesn't think the critics considered how their words could affect him.

"What people don't understand is, even the writers and stuff, if they have children of their own, imagine if somebody talked about their child how they spoke about me," he said. "Critiquing my body, critiquing how I look. Every time they talked about me, it was about weight, how bad I looked. I don't even think they realized what kind of impact that can have on you."

A 6'6" power forward with one of the most unique skill sets in the league, Williamson is listed at 284 pounds. When he was recovering from surgery, his weight ballooned after a regression in the bone healing forced him to discontinue his rehabilitation.

Many speculated the Duke product had a poor work ethic. The talk surrounding Williamson became so bad that even his mother and stepfather began questioning his routine.

"I was like: 'Y'all relax. Hearing it from y'all doesn't help me, and it makes it worse for me as a matter of fact,'" Williamson said. "So, when I broke it down like that, they understood. Once my foot heals, I'll get back on track."

To prepare for his return, Williamson trained with sports medicine and performance specialist Jasper Bibbs. He also hired a personal chef, Jhonas Lewis, to make all his food from July through September.

"I don't know if I'm supposed to say the number, but I will say this: [He lost] well over 35 pounds, for sure," Lewis said. "We were dropping almost 7-9 pounds a week. By the third week, he started seeing the results. You couldn't pay Zion to put his shirt on."

Williamson leads the Pelicans (5-4) with 22.7 points per game in seven appearances this season, as he sat out two games with a hip injury. He's expected to be in the lineup when New Orleans visits the Indiana Pacers (4-5) on Monday night.