Lizzo questioned the fading visibility of plus-size women and the shifting direction of the body positivity movement in a personal essay posted Sunday on Substack, where she pointed to the rise of weight-loss drugs like Ozempic as a key reason why “all of our big girls are not-so-big anymore.”
The Hip-Hop artist, born Melissa Jefferson, titled the piece “Why is everybody losing weight and what do we do? Sincerely, a person who’s lost weight.” In it, she revealed she now weighs 200 pounds after what she described as a two-year “weight release” journey focused on health. But despite her own transformation, she expressed concern over how the movement that once uplifted her is now leaving behind the very people it was meant to empower.
“Just like that, it became branded for everyone. Unfortunately, once something becomes for everyone, the people that it was originally created for are edged out. It’s no longer for us anymore,” she wrote. “It’s no longer for the size 16 and up community. It’s no longer for the disabled plus-sized community. It’s no longer for the queer, indigenous, plus-sized community. I would look up the body positivity hashtag and I would see size eight, straight, white women dominating the category.”
The “Truth Hurts” singer also claimed that extended sizes have been disappearing from online retailers and that plus-size models are being overlooked for jobs. She linked this shift to the growing popularity of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, which are increasingly used for weight loss.
According to a report from The New York Times, demand for these medications has surged, reshaping public attitudes toward body image and health.
“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,” Lizzo wrote. “There may be some bad actors amongst us. Some people may have used the movement for financial gain or fame, and once it no longer served them, they abandoned it. That’s OK, it was never about them anyway. We have a lot of work to do, to undo the effects of the Ozempic boom.”
She ended the essay by pledging to help restore the original mission of the body positivity movement, which she says has been diluted by commercial interests.
“I have a lot of work to do to regain the trust of the movement that gave me wings. It is work I am willing and ready to do. I want us to allow the body positive movement to expand and grow far away from the commercial slop its become (sic). Because movements move,” she wrote.
The essay was published on Substack on Sunday, April 21.
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