Lizzo revealed that she was “deeply offended” by the way women’s bodies were a topic of discussion and objectification in the media in the late 1990s and 2000s.
The 37-year-old artist made her statement about shifting beauty standards and changing mindsets while having a heart-to-heart with Bill Clinton’s former mistress Monica Lewinsky at the Reclaim podcast.
Monica has a history of being publicly mocked and caricatured, so when the podcast host discussed one of her caricatures that “made her sob for hours,” the singer became emotional.
Lizzo then discussed how women are scrutinized by the public and media, recalling when Jessica Simpson was subjected to cruel headlines and media criticism in 2009 for her high-waisted “mom jeans” and how they “ruined the stage” for the singer.
The About damn time singer added that she now wears similar styles herself, describing them as “the only jeans I wear,” adding, “I’ll first say that the way we talk about bodies in the media and the standard of what a thin body or a larger body is has changed so dramatically.”
Lizzo continued, “Sometimes I’m actually deeply offended by the way the media talked about your bodies or Jessica Simpson’s mom jeans.”
“I don’t think this new generation understands how intense and how strict and harsh society is and was on women’s bodies — especially bodies that, by today’s standards, people would say are thin or smaller and wouldn’t be put in the same category,” she explained.
Lizzo continued: “I think when – when I came out, people were like, ‘Wait a minute. We didn’t know they could get that big.'”
“I had to be undeniably — like undeniably talented, undeniably beautiful, undeniably likeable, undeniably myself. Because that’s all they needed to want to deny me… they would turn me away at the door just based on my body,” she said, explaining the enormous pressure on her.
“I think when my body changed… there were people who said, ‘Am I not allowed to be in my power anymore? Don’t you actually love yourself?'”
Lizzo continued: “The truth is, I really love myself to be able to do this.
“Mine came from changing certain habits in my life and so I can enjoy being physically in my body, and I think you can only achieve that by loving yourself,” the artist clarified.
“Your body is going to change and you should embrace that change. Every day you change… you have to keep up with that. And that’s what body positivity is,” Lizzo said while talking about her stance on body positivity.
