Rob Kardashian Posts First Selfie In Years

It's been awhile since anyone has seen Rob Kardashian out and about, enjoying life — and for good reason. Any time the 28-year-old steps out of his house, paparazzi are waiting to snap a photo of him to be included in yet another article about how much weight Kim, Kourtney, and Khloé's younger brother has gained. On Sunday night, Kardashian posted his first selfie in years on Instagram. He looks great — but, more importantly, the mere fact that he feels confident enough to open himself up on social media tells us everything we need to know about him: he's not about to let mean comments and negative press coverage keep him down for long.

It isn't a secret that both Rob's appearance and desire to be in the limelight have changed since the world first met him years ago on Keeping Up With the Kardashians. Back then he was more or less Khloé's sidekick, though he also gained media attention for starting a sock business and dating Rita Ora — uh, and then announcing via Twitter that Ora cheated on him with "20 dudes." Gross, but I digress.

It hasn't been easy for Rob over the years — he has become more and more uncomfortable with public scrutiny and attention, which of course just means people are becoming even hungrier for information about him. With the exception of throwback photos, memes, and pictures of family members and friends, Rob has mostly kept to himself on Instagram — until Sunday night:

It isn't clear whether this is a recent photo, though I should mention he is quite diligent about labeling photos "throwbacks" when the description applies. If it is new, good for him — not only does he look healthy and happy, that expression on his face says: I'm back — deal with it. He exudes confidence in this photo.

Things took a turn for the bizarre for Rob around 2012, when he announced he was attending law school, but was then shut down by University of Southern California's Gould School of Law, whose representatives claimed that he had never even applied to the program. He slowly began to fade from sight, was rumored to be suffering from depression, and was captured in several photos which confirmed that he had gained weight.

It has to be torture to be born into a family known for their physical perfection — particularly when you're feeling bad about your own body. And it certainly didn't help matters that Kim reportedly told Rolling Stone that Rob is uncomfortable with his weight, but that he also smokes weed, drinks beer, plays video games, and pretty much does nothing but hang out all day. Do you blame him for ditching Kim's high-profile Italian wedding when he knew darn well his physical appearance would unfairly garner as much attention as her gown?

Looking back, maybe Kim's tough love (which could also be called soft hate) was just the thing he needed because she is reportedly working with Rob to help him lose weight and feel better about himself. Whether or not Rob lost any weight prior to this photo, that's not what matters here — what matters is that he is celebrating himself and isn't ashamed to show the world he isn't going anywhere.