Through the pain, Lizzo continues to hold her head high.
During a recent Instagram Live, the singer, who released her latest track "Rumors" on Aug. 13, pulled back the curtain on how social media vitriol can take a toll on her. While wiping her tears, she told viewers, "Sometimes I feel like the world just don't love me back...It's like it doesn't matter how much positive energy you put into the world, you're still going to have people who have something mean to say about you."
"For the most part, it doesn't hurt my feelings. I don't care," Lizzo clarified. "I just think when I'm working this hard, my tolerance gets lower. My patience is lower. I'm more sensitive and it gets to me." She called out the fatphobic and racist comments that were flung at her, telling viewers, "If you don't like my music, cool. If you don't like 'Rumors' the song, cool, but a lot of people don't like me because of the way I look."
Reflecting on what she's had to endure, the Grammy-winning performer told Good Morning America, "I don't mind critique about me, my music. I don't even mind the fat comments. I just feel like it's unfair sometimes the treatment that people like me receive."
While she's a world-famous artist today, she's already spent nearly a decade working toward this success and carving out a place for herself in a notoriously limited industry. "Black women have been in this industry and innovating it forever," she told GMA. "It is unfortunate that we are the ones who do suffer from the marginalization the most and the erasure the most and I feel like if it weren't for the internet, if it weren't for social media, I could have been erased."
"But I chose to be undeniable," she noted, "and I chose to be loud and I chose to be great and I'm still here. It's difficult."
She's here, she won't back down, but she also won't sugarcoat what's happening. "People are like, 'Don't let them see you with your head down, sis. My head is always up," she assured. "Even when I'm upset and even when I'm crying, my head is up, but I know it's my job as an artist to reflect the times and this s--t should not fly. This shouldn't be OK."
In the meantime, Lizzo will continue to be her authentic self and a symbol of perfectly imperfect self-love.
"Just remember that self-love is a journey," she advised, "and there's gonna be beautiful days...and then there's day where you're like, 'Uh uh.'"
"But all of those days," Lizzo reminded, "is an opportunity to love yourself."
For more of her much-needed powerful words of wisdom, just keep scrolling!