Pop star Lizzo is a body positivity champion. Scroll through her Instagram account and it becomes evident the “Good as Hell” singer is clearly comfortable in her own skin. But during a recent Instagram Live, Lizzo shed tears in front of her fans as she addressed “people who have something mean to say about you.”
“For the most part, it doesn’t hurt my feelings. I don’t care,” she said, wiping tears from her face. “I just think when I’m working this hard, my tolerance gets lower, my patience is lower, I’m more sensitive and it gets to me.”
Cardi B, who’s featured on Lizzo’s new song “Rumors,” had a message for the cyber bullies trying to bring Lizzo down. On Twitter Cardi wrote: “When you stand up for yourself they claim your problematic & sensitive. When you don’t they tear you apart until you crying like this. Whether you skinny, big, plastic, they going to always try to put their insecurities on you. Remember these are nerds looking at the popular table.”
“Thank you @iamcardib — you’re such a champion for all people. Love you so much,” she Lizzo replied. On Friday (Aug. 13), Lizzo spoke with Zane Lowe in an interview on Apple Music’s “New Music Daily.” The 33-year-old was celebrating the release of “Rumors” featuring Cardi B. But she also opened up about her experiences as a Black, plus-sized pop star.
As a plus-sized woman, Lizzo said she has never had the “luxury” of hiding behind a “marketable” appearance. “I feel like fat is the worst thing people can say about me at this point,” she said. “This is the biggest insecurity. It’s like, ‘How dare a pop star be fat?’…I had to own that.”
“I feel like other people who were put on that pedestal, or who become pop stars, probably have other insecurities or have other flaws, but they can hide it behind a veneer of being sexy and being marketable,” she continued. The entertainment industry and society, according to Lizzo, still chooses to glorify the same demographics of people in ads, videos, and other marketing endeavors.
“Music can influence the culture and the way things look; commercials, billboards; but that changes so much. The infrastructure has not changed as much” Lizzo said. “There’s still so many people who suffer from being marginalized systemically. Meanwhile, there’s a plus-sized Black girl at the GRAMMYs. But plus-size Black women are still not getting the treatment they deserve in hospitals and from doctors and at work, you know what I mean? We got a long way to go.”