Steve Granitz/WireImageJoJo is opening up about a problematic pressure she says is facing many young girls in the music industry.
The singer recently sat down with PopSugar for a candid interview, revealing that she used to inject herself with weight loss supplements in order to please her record label.
"I was under a lot of pressure with a company I was at previously and they wanted me to lose weight fast. So they got me with a nutritionist and had me, like, on all these supplements, and I was injecting myself," the 25-year-old disclosed. "It makes your body only need certain calories, so I ate 500 calories a day."
JoJo also says she isn't the only artist who has undergone such harsh scrutiny. In fact, the "Leave (Get Out)" songstress says a strict diet like the one she was forced to undergo, "is a common thing [female singers] do."
At 18-years-old, JoJo said she understood it "was the most unhealthy thing I've ever done," but explained that if she didn't comply, she feared her career would suffer. "I felt like, 'If I don't do this, my album won't come out.' Which it didn't! So it's not like it even worked," she added.
"I felt terrible about myself and I was upset that I even subscribed to the standard they wanted me to be at," JoJo admitted.
In the years that followed, JoJo struggled with her self-confidence and it wasn't until she turned 21 that she decided to fight back against the industry's unrealistic beauty ideals and refocus her values.
"Being strong physically, mentally and emotionally is really what I love," she said.