MadameNoire
Source: John Lamparski/Getty; Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty / Getty
After receiving backlash for comments she made regarding Lizzo’s weight last year, in a recent interview fitness expert Jillian Michaels said that while she regretted bringing up the “Truth Hurts” singer, she still stands by her opinion on obesity and the health risks associated with being overweight.
If you recall, back in January 2020 Michaels came under fire when a viral clip went around on the internet of her as a guest star on BuzzfeedNews’ AM2DM. After the host noted Lizzo’s rise as a figure in the body positivity movement, Michaels said that she didn’t understand why the singer was being praised for her body. According to Michaels’ opinion in the clip, society should be more focused on the singer’s music as opposed to Lizzo proudly and publicly embracing her size.
“Why are we celebrating her body?” Michaels said in the 2020 AM2DM interview. “Why does it matter? Why aren’t we celebrating her music? Cause it isn’t going to be awesome if she gets diabetes. I’m just being honest, I love her music — my kid loves her music — but there’s never a moment when I’m like, ‘I’m so glad she’s overweight.’ Why do I even care? Why is it my job to care about her weight?”
After being dragged, the following day Michaels made a post on social media that read, “As I’ve stated repeatedly, we are all beautiful, worthy and equally deserving. I also feel strongly that we love ourselves enough to acknowledge there are serious health consequences that come with obesity-heart disease, diabetes, cancer to name only a few. I would never wish these for ANYONE and I would hope we prioritize our health because we LOVE ourselves and our bodies.”
All that said, yesterday (May 27) Michaels brought up her controversial comments about the singer’s weight and aimed to clarify them once again during an appearance on The Carlos Watson Show. Initially trying to defend herself by saying she wasn’t the one who brought up Lizzo in the conversation had on AM2DM originally, Michaels ended up admitting that she’s should’ve made the conversation on the BuzzfeedNews show more focused on obesity from a health standpoint instead of making it about Lizzo’s size.
In the recent interview, Michaels said, “I have never once actually brought her [Lizzo] up. I would like to make that clear. She has been brought up to me and I would like to separate her from the issue if at all possible. And I should have done that the first time I was asked, I should have said let’s separate an individual from a conversation about health.”
“That is where I genuinely went wrong,” the fitness guru admitted. “That is literally the only place that I will tell you that I went wrong if the conversation is about celebrating obesity. We should celebrate individuals. We shouldn’t celebrate somebody if they are big and we shouldn’t celebrate somebody if they are small, we should be celebrating somebody because of the quality of their character. Obesity is just unhealthy. That’s it.”
“And it has no merit on the quality of the human,” Michaels highlighted. “They’re not connected. They are totally separate issues. So the fact that somehow these things have become interwoven in some bizarre, politically correct alternate universe is an absolute shame because we’re not doing anyone any favors. When you are an expert in a category you have a responsibility to tell the truth.”
Regardless of what people have to say about her, Lizzo’s still been serving as an agent of the body positivity movement. Recently, she even partnered with Dove for the brand’s Self-Esteem Project. Read more about that here.
