Lizzo Didn't Think She Was 'Desirable' Enough to Be a Pop Star

Earlier this week, Elle UK published its September cover interview with the star, where she talked about everything from her new Yitty shapewear line to her meteoric rise to the top of the charts. And in terms of the latter, Lizzo used the piece as an opportunity to get candid about some of the internal difficulties she faced during her come-up — specifically her belief that she wasn't "desirable" enough to make it as a pop star.

"I think it was more of, like, an insecurity. Nearly every star I saw on stage was thinner and light-skinned. They didn’t look like me," as the "About Damn Time" singer explained. "Sure, there were women like Missy Elliott and Queen Latifah. But they were the exception to the rule."

She added, "And so I always felt like, even if the song is great, people wouldn’t want to hear it coming from me. So I thought, if I have other people on stage, too, that will take the focus off me a little bit."

Lizzo then went on to say that while "people want to look like me now," she had some doubts about her ability to make it in the music industry during her "formative years," adding that she "wasn’t really set up to believe that I was desirable."

"For me, being a pop star – part of it is people either want to be you or be with you," she continued. "And I didn’t feel like I had any of those qualities."

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But despite spending "years being ashamed," the hitmaker said she was eventually able to grow into her own skin by using the old "fake it till you make it method," which helped her attract "a lot of people who thought I was beautiful."

"I was like, “Oh no, my [beauty] is real.” And I think that’s an important thing. You start attracting people who see you the way you see yourself," as she revealed.

"It took a lot of work for me to feel worthy of being in this place," Lizzo said. "To feel worthy of being a force to be reckoned with."

Read Lizzo's entire interview with Elle UK here.

Photo via Getty / Charley Gallay