Jillian Michaels Speaks Out After Lizzo Fans Accuse Her of Body Shaming
Jillian Michaels is speaking out to explain herself after getting a lot of heat for some critical remarks regarding Lizzo that many felt were an attempt to body shame the “Truth Hurts” singer.
The drama started when Michaels — a personal trainer, fitness expert and The Biggest Loser star — sat down for an interview with BuzzFeed’s AM to DM series and got into a conversation with host Alex Berg about celebrities who promote self-acceptance.
When the chat touched on Lizzo’s frequent messages of body positivity and self-love, Michaels said that fans should be celebrating the artist’s songs, but not her body.
“Why are we celebrating her body?” Michaels replied. “Why does it matter? That’s what I’m saying. Like why aren’t we celebrating her music? ‘Cause it isn’t gonna 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?” she added.
Michaels also explained during the chat that she doesn’t think it’s right to “glorify obesity.”
Many of Lizzo’s fans and fellow celebrities quickly took to Twitter to slam Michaels for her remarks, and to accuse her of promoting insecurity for her own gain.
Michaels later addressed the controversy in a statement posted to Twitter on Wednesday afternoon.
“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,” she wrote. “I would never wish these for ANYONE and I would hope we prioritize our health because we LOVE ourselves and our bodies.”
For her part, Lizzo has not commented on the drama, which began just days after the “Juice” artist said she planned on taking a break from social media due to Twitter trolls and negativity.
Image Source:*John Lamparski, Don Arnold/Getty Images
Source:etonline.com
