Lizzo uploaded a nude, unedited selfie to Instagram, and to say that she is glowing would be an understatement.
“To celebrate [Taurus season] I wanna give y’all this unedited selfie,” she wrote on her Instagram page, which has over 10 million followers. “Now normally I would fix my belly and smooth my skin but baby I wanted show u how I do it au natural — I am excited to be partnering with @dove and the #DoveSelfEsteemProject which is helping to reverse the negative effects of social media and changing the conversation about beauty standards. Let’s get real y’all.”
Lizzo, born Melissa Viviane Jefferson, is most widely known for dismantling beauty standards in regards to body image and is constantly promoting messages to encourage body positivity.
The 32-year-old has opened up in the past about her struggles with body dysmorphia which left her grappling with low self-esteem. The singer recalled a time where she was in a toxic relationship at age 19 and how it exacerbated her insecurities.
“I remember he was like, ‘I’m a little guy. I need a little girl,’" she told to Stylist UK, admitting she found herself trying to emulate actress Zooey Deschanel.
When that relationship ended, she began asking herself, “How can you be in love with someone when you’re not even you?”
Over the course of her career, the Detroit native has turned her struggles into salvation by embracing herself, adding that she's excited to be growing adjacent to the body-positive movement, which has skyrocketed in recent years.
“I’ve come to terms with body dysmorphia and evolved,” she explains. “The body-positive movement is doing the same thing. We’re growing together, and it’s growing pains, but I’m just glad that I’m attached to something so organic and alive”.
In a December Instagram post, captioned “To Every Body, with love,” Lizzo narrated a message celebrating diverse body types.
“Your body is perfectly yours, even if it ain’t perfect to anybody else,” she began in the poetic tribute.
“If you only knew the complexities your body possesses, you would be so proud of it,” she continued. “I’m so proud of you for making it this far in a society that gives us a head start into self-loathing; that hands us a dysmorphic mirror and leaves us desperate to catch up with who we think we should be.”
“I’ve spent my hardest days trying to love me. If I have any advice, it is to eat, drink, move, rest. Your job is to grow. Your job is to figure it out along the way.”
The “Juice” singer shared that she views social media as “self-serving,” and something that “needs her more than she needs it.”
“I think that people love authenticity and they love to see people truly enjoying themselves,” she told Essence. “I’m doing this for myself. I love creating shapes with my body, and I love normalizing the dimples in my butt or the lumps in my thighs or my back fat or my stretch marks. I love normalizing my Black-ass elbows. I think it’s beautiful.”
