Lizzo said she appreciates Eddie Murphy's collection of films, but that some of the movies evoke another emotion out of her aside from amusement. In an interview with Variety, the "Truth Hurts" singer revealed watching movies like Norbit and The Nutty Professor, where the actor wore a fat suit to portray various characters, left her feeling "sad" for the fictional people.
Lizzo on the harmful stereotypes she remembers watching while growing up: “I’m the biggest Eddie Murphy fan of all time. But he definitely had a collection of fat-suit movies that people would be laughing at, but I would feel sad.” https://t.co/uIEBrBsHut
pic.twitter.com/0o4QoOZpbv— Variety (@Variety) February 23, 2022
"It's funny, because I’m the biggest Eddie Murphy fan of all time," Lizzo told the outlet. "But he definitely had a collection of fat-suit movies that people would be laughing at, but I would feel sad. Not because I felt like, ‘Oh, my gosh — that’s me.’ But I had this empathy for Professor Klump [in The Nutty Professor]. Like, the scene where he opens his drawer and there are all these candies and M&Ms in his desk? I could literally cry right now thinking about it. People around me were laughing, but I hide food too. I feel him. I feel sympathy and empathy for him.”
Lizzo has opened up about her body-positivity journey in the past, telling her TikTok followers how she overcame negative thoughts about her figure. In Dec. 2020, the "Rumors" singer detailed her experience with and feelings about those "negative thoughts" after taking off her clothes one day to shower.
"[Thinking] like, 'What's wrong with me? Maybe all the mean things people say about me are true,'" she said at the time, per Entertainment Tonight. "And, you know, 'Why am I so disgusting?' and hating my body. Normally I would have some positive thing to say to get me out of this but I don't. And that's OK too."
"I just have to know that tomorrow, how I feel in [my head] is going to change, and I can only hope it changes for the better," she continued. "I know I'm beautiful. I just don't feel it, but I know I'm going to get through it."
She also opened up about how she had planned to change the Disney character Ursula into a "THOT, shaking ass" character for the rebooted role. However, the job ended up going to Melissa McCarthy, who coincidentally shares the same name as the singer. Lizzo's legal name is Melissa Viviane Jefferson.
"You know what’s crazy? At the Adele show, I ran into Melissa McCarthy, because she [got cast as] Ursula," Lizzo told Variety. "She was like, ‘Hi, I’m Melissa.’ And I was like, ‘Hi, I’m Melissa. And I also auditioned for Ursula.'"
"And she was like, ‘Well, why the hell did I get the part?’ which is a classic Melissa McCarthy thing to say. And then I was like, ‘Girl, because my audition was terrible.’ And I say that as Tyler Perry walks by. And I was like — ruined my chances there. And then she goes, ‘This is my daughter Vivian.’ And I’m like, ‘Get out of here, because my name is Melissa Viviane.’ We were looking at each other like, ‘What the hell is going on?’”