Rhianna Benson
In an emotional self-written essay, singer Lizzo is imploring women to think carefully before turning to weight loss injectables in a bid to lose weight.
Titled, 'Why is everybody losing weight and what do we do? Sincerely, a person who’s lost weight', the Substack piece details the 'Good As Hell' hit-maker's own lifestyle transformation, whilst addressing the jabs' sudden surge in popularity.
Lizzo - real name Melissa Viviane Jefferson - 37, began by recalling that she first felt inspired to change up her diet and exercise routine in 2023, after depression left her feeling as though her identity was being 'overshadowed' by her plus-size physique.
"People could not see my talent as a musician because they were too busy accusing me of making 'being fat' my whole personality," she explained. "I had to actively work against ‘mammy’ tropes by being hypersexual and vulgar because being a mammy by definition is being desexualised.
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"And that’s the reality that nobody wants to talk about. We’re in an era where the bigger girls are getting smaller because they’re tired of being judged."
After taking up Pilates to 'process my pain through my body', and beginning therapy, she realised she'd been viewing her curvaceous physique as a 'protective shield' in the past - something the wanted to let 'the-f**k-go' of.
Since then, she has shared regular progress pics on social media, as well as healthy recipes and exercise routines.
Though she confessed earlier this year to temporarily turning to Ozempic to shed some initial weight, Lizzo claimed she stopped after finding calorie deficits, increased exercise and whole foods more helpful.
Discussing the amount of huge-name stars to have previously admitted to using Ozempic, however - as well as the availability of GLP-1 medications - the musician issued a warning over the current state of weight loss culture.
Believing larger ladies in the media are being 'erased', she explained: "So here we are halfway through the decade, where extended sizes are being magically erased from websites.
"Plus-sized models are no longer getting booked for modelling gigs. And all of our big girls are not-so-big anymore."
Lizzo went on to urge: "We have a lot of work to do, to undo the effects of the Ozempic boom."
Concluding her essay, she called for deeper conversations on the importance of society remaining body positive, to 'release ourselves from the illusion that there is only good and bad'.
She insisted: "I want us to allow the body positive movement to expand and grow far away from the commercial slop it's become. Because movements move."
A spokesperson for Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer of Ozempic, told Tyla: "Obesity is a chronic and complex disease, influenced by a number of different factors and requiring long-term management. We continue to actively confront the stigma and bias associated with it and advocate for access to support and care."