Lizzo Spoke Candidly and Emotionally About the Difficulties of Fame

Lizzo opened up about the challenges of fame and the importance of caring for your mental health in an emotional video on TikTok.

hollywood, california october 14 in this image released on october 14, lizzo accepts the top song sales artist award onstage at the 2020 billboard music awards, broadcast on october 14, 2020 at the dolby theatre in los angeles, ca photo by kevin wintergetty images
(Image credit: Kevin Winter)
  • Lizzo opened up about the challenges of fame and the importance of caring for your mental health in an emotional video on TikTok.
  • "Fame only puts a magnifying glass on the shit that you already have," she said.
  • "I just want everybody to know that it’s OK to not have a good day even when it seems like you should," Lizzo concluded.

Throughout her career, Lizzo has spoken candidly about mental health and the importance of addressing your struggles—and in a new TikTok, she spoke emotionally about her own mental health challenges and how they've been compounded by fame. Urging her followers to "do the inner work" to target their difficulties, Lizzo opened up about the inability of fame or money to resolve "internal issues."

"Hey, I’m just logging on to say you can be like, the coolest, most richest person ever and it doesn't buy you fucking happiness. Money doesn’t buy you happiness," Lizzo said in a heartfelt TikTok, as Cosmopolitan UK reports. "Fame only puts a magnifying glass on the shit that you already have. And if that shit is fucked up, you're just going to have even more magnified, fucked-up shit in situations where it doesn't even seem valid, or like, you're even like, supposed to feel that way, and so it fucks you up even more because you feel super fucking ungrateful."

"So I’m just telling everyone now, anyone who has internal issues or has like, any type of self problems that they need to work out, work out now—because money, fame, or success, or even getting older doesn't really fix that shit," she continued, growing visibly more emotional. "You need to just, like, do it. Do the inner work, do the inner work, because no matter where you are it's always going to haunt you like a fucking ghost. And I'm working on it too but today is just not a good day. And I just want everybody to know that it’s OK to not have a good day even when it seems like you should."

Speaking to Elle last year, Lizzo reflected on her former inability to open up when she was struggling, and how her newfound emotional candor had changed her life. "I was the worst communicator, emotionally, when I was younger," she said. "I would stop talking to my family; I would stop talking to my friends. I would go deeper and deeper into that dark place, and the deeper I went, the harder it was to reach out of it."

Learning how to reach out for help was "revolutionary," she said. "You realize that people truly care about you and they’ll help you, and they don’t mind helping you."

"Being in those places is inevitable for me; I’m going to end up there again," Lizzo continued. "But the fact that I’m prepared now to go to those places—and I have a toolbox, and I know I can pull myself out—is really helpful to me in my mental health journey."

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(Image credit: @lizzobeeating)
Emily Dixon
Morning Editor

Emily Dixon is a British journalist who’s contributed to CNN, Teen Vogue, Time, Glamour, The Guardian, Wonderland, The Big Roundtable, Bust, and more, on everything from mental health to fashion to political activism to feminist zine collectives. She’s also a committed Beyoncé, Kacey Musgraves, and Tracee Ellis Ross fan, an enthusiastic but terrible ballet dancer, and a proud Geordie lass.