Lizzo Opens Up About Weight Loss Journey Fueled by Depression and a Desire for Release
Lizzo is sharing insights into her psychological well-being as she navigates her personal weight transformation.
“My weight reduction began in autumn 2023. I was experiencing profound depression. Following a brutal public controversy, it seemed as though everyone had abandoned me. I reached a point of intense suicidal ideation,” the 37-year-old artist revealed in a Substack entry published on Sunday, November 23. “I severed ties with everyone close to me.”
Melissa Jefferson, known professionally as Lizzo, articulated that post-“scandal,” she “lost all trust,” alluding to the 2023 lawsuit initiated by three ex-backup dancers, and observed that “previous associates and companions” started making “untrue allegations” about her.
(According to legal filings acquired by Us Weekly then, the plaintiffs accused Lizzo of sexual and religious harassment, discrimination based on disability, fostering an antagonistic workplace, among other charges. She has refuted these accusations.)
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“The reasons remain unknown to me. Was it an attempt to undermine me when I was already vulnerable? A pursuit of fleeting notoriety? I may never find out. This ultimately led to my profound solitude,” Lizzo expressed on Sunday. “I experienced daily rage. Primarily because I was unable to publicly vindicate myself. I couldn't share my truth with the public, as I believed no one would credit my words.”
Lizzo clarified that she “required an avenue to channel [her] suffering physically,” which prompted her to take up pilates. She confessed to occasionally shedding tears following her exercise routines.
“I noticed a degree of weight reduction during that period, though it wasn't as pronounced as it is currently,” she penned. “This was because it wasn't a deliberate effort. That winter, I resolved to film a video articulating my desire for intentional weight loss. The motivation? I believe I felt as though I had lost everything and sought a transformation. Following consultations with several therapists, I realized my weight had functioned as a safeguard, a comforting haven, and at times even a kind of superhero armor throughout my life. My weight, much like my hair, symbolized accumulated time. It held stored energy. And I yearned to liberate myself from it.”
Lizzo elucidated that she started viewing her body transformation not as pounds “shed” but as pounds “let go.” She highlighted that she doesn't belong to the category of “plus-size public figures” who have undergone “significant bodily alterations” due to health imperatives.
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“My desire was to alter my physical sensation. I had been clinging to an immense burden since my father's death in 2009. Since 2011, I had sustained relationships that were profoundly harmful and detrimental,” she stated. “The responsibility of financially upholding my family had been mine since 2016. I yearned to simply release all of it.”
For Lizzo, her path to body transformation was “never” motivated by a desire to be “slender” — and she believes she cannot possibly be “regarded as genuinely ‘thin’” according to traditional definitions.
“I will perpetually bear the marks and the skin characteristic of a woman who has carried substantial mass,” she affirmed. “And I embrace this with pride. Even when societal expectations dictate otherwise. My experience as a public figure, ever since I emerged as a self-assured, body-positive personality, has verged on psychological mistreatment. And this is purely attributable to my size.”
She added, “Despite this, I adapted it to my advantage. I skillfully countered those irritating memes. I was fully cognizant of being the target of virtually every weight-related jest online. Still, I persisted in being authentic, as it's the sole way I know how to exist. And even in my authenticity, few truly accepted it.”
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Lizzo mentioned that she learned others perceived her as “inauthentic” and believed she harbored “internalized prejudice against larger bodies.” She grew “utterly fed up” with her “essence being obscured by [her] corpulence.” Reflecting on her professional life, Lizzo acknowledged having “published some debatable content,” such as a “smoothie cleanse,” but has maintained “considerable awareness” in how she publicly communicates her “body transformation.”
Asserting that full-figured models are “increasingly overlooked for modeling assignments” and that “many of our larger women have become less large,” Lizzo nonetheless affirmed that she remains “a proud woman of substantial size.”
“Visibly large. Exceeding 200 pounds,” she penned. “And my self-love remains constant, irrespective of the number on the scale. It's possible there are some opportunists among us. Certain individuals might have leveraged the movement for monetary benefit or recognition, only to desert it once it no longer suited their purposes. That is acceptable; the movement was never truly centered on them anyway.”
She elaborated, “Significant effort is required from us to counteract the impact of the Ozempic surge. I personally have considerable work ahead to restore faith within the movement that empowered me. This is an undertaking I am both prepared and eager to embrace. What action should we take? We must persevere in dialogue. We must continue to enforce mutual responsibility. We must free ourselves from the misconception of simple binaries like good and bad. We must reintroduce subtlety into our discourse. My aspiration is for the body positive movement to evolve and expand, distancing itself from the commercialized triviality it has become. For movements, by nature, progress.”
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