The singer also sounded off on women facing a “system of oppression,” while saying “cruelty is at an all-time high”
Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Lizzo said she’s gained 20 lbs. in the past year amid her health journey
- The singer talked to The Guardian about societal pressures on women’s appearances
- Lizzo sounded off on a culture of cruelty, which she says has become more acceptable
Lizzo says she’s gained 20 lbs. since last year amid what she’s called her health journey.
The “Truth Hurts” singer, 38, told The Guardian that there “are a lot of reasons,” she began to focus on wellness in 2023. “People always want to make it one single headline, one single thing. A lot of things can be true at once.”
“I was in a place where my physical weight was causing joint pain and aches. I also got to the point where I came off the internet, and all I had was the studio and my thoughts,” Lizzo (née Melissa Jefferson) told the outlet. “So I poured myself into the things I could control. My body, my lifestyle. My routines and habits. So, yeah, both of those things are true. And this is who I am today.”
Credit: Lizzo/instagram
She continued: “I’ve gained 20 pounds since last year, so everyone can ask me about weight gain, too, if they’d like.”
Although Lizzo, who just released her new album, Bitch, said she hit her weight goal in January 2025, she assumed she would regain a few pounds. As she’s previously expressed: “Will my body fluctuate from this size? Will I get a little smaller depending on some of the choices I make or a little bigger, depending on some of the choices I make in my life? Yes, I’m used to fluctuating.”
And as she told The Guardian, these days she’s more concerned with expectations forced on women and their appearances: “There’s a system of oppression that is constantly putting pressure on, especially women and especially women in the spotlight. And that system is unrelenting, and it is determined to make you feel s–t about yourself. And it won’t stop until you’ve bought every product and you’ve bought into every lie and turned it in on yourself.”
“That system is working at an all-time high right now,” she continued. “What worries me is the effect it’s having on the people it’s oppressing. We need to criticize the system and the mediums that are doing this and not the people it’s affecting because those people are human beings having a human experience. We should have grace and love and support for them.”
Credit: Christopher Polk/Billboard via Getty
Sign up for From the Editor, our free weekly newsletter from PEOPLE’s Editor-in-Chief, Charlotte Triggs.
Lizzo observed that this pressure on women is part of a cultural shift — one that swings toward cruelty.
“We live in a culture where everybody is racing to get the top comment, and the most hurtful comment wins. We’re in a business of hurting each other,” Lizzo told the outlet.
Credit: Ravinia Festival/Kyle Dunleavy
She reflected on past years.
“I think everybody was so careful about the way we spoke about others, and everybody was holding people accountable for the last few years, and now the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction. Being cruel is trendy and acceptable,” she said. “And I think we’re seeing it at the top of our society, from the leaders, all the way down to comment sections. We’re seeing cruelty at an all-time high.”
Read the full article here
