When Lizzo took to social media last week to post pictures of herself in barely-there pink lingerie, fans noticed there was a lot less of her to pose for the camera than there used to be.
In recent months the singer and flutist once known as a beacon of inclusivity, diversity and body positivity has shed the pounds so rapidly that she has changed almost beyond recognition.
And that, insiders tell the Daily Mail, is exactly how she wants it.
Lizzo’s drastic weight loss is about more than a simple health kick – it is a desperate attempt to distance herself from the darkest chapter of her career.
‘By getting skinny and redefining who she is, even the way she acts and dresses, she feels like she is now emerging as this new person and that the drama of her past won’t follow her,’ one source close to the singer explains.
The drama in question came in the summer of 2023, just as the singer was reaching the height of her fame.
Lizzo flaunted her slimmer figure on Instagram this week in a magenta lingerie set
Lizzo pictured in a pool in 2022
‘She has pushed people who love her away and she is now solely focused on becoming a beautiful black Barbie. She wants to be Beyonce,’ one source claimed of Lizzo, pictured at the Vanity Fair Oscars Party this year
In a shocking turn of events, Lizzo, 36, was accused of sexual, racial and religious harassment and creating a hostile work environment by four of her former employees in two separate cases.
Dancers Crystal Williams, Arianna Davis and Noelle Rodriguez accused her of pressuring staff members to eat ‘bananas protruding from the performers’ vaginas’ while on a night out in Amsterdam, among other things.
The following month, in September 2023, the pop star’s stylist, Asha Daniels, accused Lizzo of overseeing an ‘unsafe, sexually charged workplace culture.’
Lizzo has vehemently denied any wrongdoing and, while the dancers’ case is ongoing, she was dropped as a defendant from Daniels’ case in December.
But, despite her best efforts, the damage had been done – her hard-won reputation was marred.
Now the Daily Mail has learned that, almost two years after she was hit with the scandal, Lizzo’s quest to reinvent herself is part of a dogged bid to rehabilitate her image by changing it completely.
‘She has pushed people who love her away and she is now solely focused on becoming a beautiful Black Barbie,’ our source claims. ‘She wants to be Beyonce.’
‘She has done everything that she can to identify as far away from the Lizzo that was accused of doing those inappropriate acts,’ they added.
The weight loss is a dramatic change for a performer who based so much of her public persona and brand on being an icon of body positivity, pushing back against detractors and encouraging others to do the same.
Lizzo, pictured here in 2022, was a body positivity advocate and built her image on the ‘Big Grrrls’ brand, incorporating the moniker into the names of her dance troupe, touring company and second studio album
In 2022, Lizzo launched her Prime Video reality show ‘Lizzo’s Watch Out For The Big Grrrls,’ in which dancers competed to join the pop singer on tour
At the height of her career, Lizzo (pictured in 2023) was accused of sexual, racial and religious harassment and creating a hostile work environment by four of her former employees in two separate cases
In 2020 she accused TikTok of ‘body shaming,’ stating, ‘TikTok keeps taking down my videos with me in my bathing suits. But allows other videos with girls in bathing suits I wonder why? TikTok… we need to talk.’
And when critics jumped on her choice of wearing an a**-less dress and thong to an NBA game, she tweeted, ‘Never ever let somebody stop you or shame you from being yourself.’
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She seemed to have practiced what she preached – using only plus-size dancers in her group, The Big Grrrls, named after her 2015 second studio album, Big Grrrl Small World. Meanwhile, her tour company – the one named in the two lawsuits – is called Big Grrrl Big Touring, Inc.
But now, sources say, after three of her dancers ‘blindsided’ her by filing their lawsuit against her, she no longer wants to be a part of the big grrrl community.
Instead, they say, ‘She is determined to have a skinny girl summer.’
Lizzo has been as open about her diet and exercise journey as she was about body positivity.
Last September, when onlookers suggested she had used the weight loss drug Ozempic, she joked on her Instagram, ‘When you finally get Ozempic allegations after 5 months of weight training and calorie deficit…’
Then in January, she shared a screenshot of her health statistics, showing she had lowered her body mass index by 10.5 and lost 16 percent of her body fat since starting her journey in January 2024.
The singer has shared her weight loss milestones on Instagram, revealing in January this year that she had hit her goal weight
‘She is determined to have a skinny girl summer,’ sources claim
But her new fixation on weight loss has left a bitter taste in the mouths of some close to her.
‘She spent her whole career talking about how big is beautiful and telling women to be proud of their bodies,’ a source tells the Daily Mail.
‘To those who knew her for a long time, all she is doing is becoming exactly what she spent the past decade saying she would never be.’
‘What she doesn’t realize is that this is also called a sell-out,’ they added, ‘she sold out and became what she thought the industry needs her to be instead of being herself. This will have consequences.’
For her part, Lizzo doesn’t seem worried.
In the caption of one Instagram post from September, she made her view on how she looks crystal clear sharing a montage of her before and after the weight loss, and the words, ‘Fine both ways.’
But those close to her are concerned that her radical rebrand will alienate her fan base.
And they are left to wonder: Will the ‘Big Grrrl Small World’ star instead find herself a small girl all alone in a big world?