Janet Jackson praises Lizzo for inspiring women to ‘come into their own’

‘Women are coming into their own and taking charge of their identity,’ singer says

Janet Jackson attends the Recording Academy and Clive Davis pre-Grammy gala, 2020 (AFP via Getty Images)

Janet Jackson has praised Lizzo for pushing body positivity and helping women become “comfortable in their own skin”.

In a new interview with Allure, the Control singer discussed how the challenges of being a woman in the public eye have changed over the years.

Recalling her rise to stardom, Jackson said there was an expectation to be as thin as possible, which she thinks is changing.

“But now, women are coming into their own and taking charge of their identity. They’re defining their own beauty standards,” she told the magazine.

Specifically, she praised Lizzo for helping women get “comfortable in their skin, in their size, in being full-figured.”

“And I love that, as opposed to back in the day. You had to always be thin and always look a certain way. And now it’s all accepted, and it is all beautiful and I absolutely love that.”

Lizzo has long championed body positivity both on social media and during her public performances.

In a video shared to her Instagram account at the beginning of this year, Lizzo told her followers she had recently gained weight.

In the clip, she is wearing a brown bodysuit as she dances around her bathroom.

“I look TF [sic] GOOD,” she captioned the post.

In April 2021, she shared an unedited nude photograph of herself on Instagram. “Now normally I would fix my belly and smooth my skin but baby I wanted show you how I do it au natural,” she told her 11.9 million followers.

Speaking to Dove for the brand’s “Self-Esteem Project”, an initiative which aims to help young people overcome anxieties and insecurities around their image, Lizzo described embracing her body and self choice as a matter of “survival”.

“I’m going to continue to live in this body and survive in this body and be happy and actually enjoy life, I need to find a way to like myself. I was body negative for a long time.”

The singer said she wants to push the message that all bodies, of all sizes, should be accepted and normalised in society.

“It’s not a political statement. It’s just my body. When you see it, keep it pushing. Keep that same energy that you keep with all the other bodies you see. That’s what body normative really means to me,” the singer said.