Lizzo is getting honest about her weight loss journey and its physical and mental impact.
Lizzo admitted to having suicidal thoughts at the beginning of her weight loss journey. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
In a Substack post, the “Good as Hell” singer revealed, “I started losing weight in the fall of 2023. I was severely depressed. I had been the subject of vicious scandal, and it felt like the whole world turned its back on me. I became deeply suicidal. I cut off all my loved ones.”
She explained she was going through a “scandal” at the time, referring to a lawsuit from three of her former backup dancers accusing her of sexual and religious harassment and creating a hostile work environment, among other allegations, all of which Lizzo denied.
In the Substack post, Lizzo felt like she “couldn’t trust anyone” and that people were making things up about her, resulting in “extreme isolation.”
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MAY 05: Lizzo attends “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style”, the 2025 Costume Institute Benefit, at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 05, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Taylor Hill/Getty Images)
The singer admitted in the past she would “binge when sad and depressed” and “order hundreds of dollars of delivery and eat everything until my stomach felt like it would explode.”
But this time was different for her. Instead, she channeled her negative feelings into Pilates, and began losing some weight.
“I found that I had lost some weight in that process, but it wasn’t as significant as it is now. Because it wasn’t intentional. I’d decided that winter to sit and record a video saying I wanted to intentionally lose weight. Why? I guess I felt like I had lost everything, and I wanted to change,” she wrote.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 13: Lizzo attends 2025 GQ Men of the Year at Chateau Marmont on November 13, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for GQ)
Lizzo explained that she spoke with therapists who helped her understand that weight had been a “protective shield” for her and she was ready to “release myself from it.”
She added that losing weight wasn’t about being “thin,” and doesn’t think she’ll ever fit that definition in a conventional sense.
“I will always have the stretch, and the skin of a woman who carries great weight,” she wrote. “And I’m proud of that. Even when the world doesn’t want me to be. The way I’ve been treated as a public figure since I was introduced to the world as a confident, body positive figure has been borderline emotional abuse. And it’s simply because of my weight.”
Grammy award-winning artist Lizzo performed in front of a sold out crowd at Portland’s Moda Center on Friday night. The singer and rapper will return to the Rose City for a second performance on her “Special Tour” on Nov. 10. (Photo by Tristan Fortsch for KATU on 11-4-2022)
The “Truth Hurts” singer said some people thought she was being “performative” and had “internalized fatphobia,” but she was tired of her “identity being overshadowed” by her weight.
“I am still a proud big girl. Objectively Big. Over 200 pounds. And I love myself as much as I’ve loved myself no matter what the scale says,” she wrote.