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Ariana Grande reshares Lizzo’s body positivity message amid fans’ concerns about her looks

‘THIS BODY IS ART,’ Grande wronte on Instagram

Amber Raiken
New York
Friday 14 April 2023 17:10 BST
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Related: Ariana Grande addresses fans’ ‘concerns’ about her body in rare statement

Ariana Grande reshared Lizzo’s message about body positivity, days after addressing fans’ concerns over her appearance.

The 29-year-old singer took to her Instagram Story to post a video from Lizzo, who hit back at body-shamers who criticise her for looking either “too big” or “too small”. In her clip, which was initially posted on Instagram in January, Lizzo hit back at the comments over her body and said that it was her responsibility as an artist to “make art,” before she noted that her body is “art”.

Along with resharing the video, Grande applauded the “About Damn Time” singer in the caption. “THIS BODY IS ART,” she wrote in the now-expired story. “ILSYM [I love you so much,” she added, along with tagging’s Lizzo’s Instagram account.

The rapper also reshared Grande’s post on her own Instagram Story, which included three sparkling pink heart emojis in the caption.

In her initial video, Lizzo acknowledged how “tired” she was of the “discourse” surrounding people’s bodies. She pointed out some of the question critics have asked her, explaining: “‘Oh my gosh, you’re so big you need to lose weight but for your health’ or ‘Oh my gosh, you need to get a** or titties or something’ to ‘Oh my gosh, why did she get all that work done it’s just too much work.’ Are we OK?”

She described the “delusion” within those remarks she’s received, and she encouraged people to stop commenting on each others’ appearance.

“Do we realise that artists are not here to fit into your beauty standards? Artists are here to make art. And this body is art. And I’m going to do whatever I want with this body,” she said. “I wish that comments cost y’all money. So we could see how much time we are f**ing wasting on the wrong things.”

Meanwhile, Grande took to TikTok earlier this week to address fans’ concerns about her body. The actor, who is currently working on the Wicked film, reminded viewers that “there are many different ways to look healthy and beautiful,” before urging them to be “kind” to each other.

(lizzobeeating / Instagram)

“I think we could be, I think we should be, gentler and less comfortable commenting on people’s bodies, no matter what,” she said at the start of the recording. “If you think you’re saying something good or well-intentioned, whatever it is — healthy, unhealthy, big, small, this, that, sexy, not sexy — we just shouldn’t. We should really work towards not doing that as much.”

She also discussed the speculation around her health, as fans had been comparing her to a way she used to look.

“Personally for me, the body that you’ve been comparing my current body to was the unhealthiest version of my body,” the “Side to Side” singer added. “I was on a lot of antidepressants, and drinking on them, and eating poorly, and at the lowest points of my life when I looked the way you consider ‘my healthy,’ but that in fact wasn’t my healthy.”

Along with Grande and Lizzo, Selena Gomez has hit back at body shamers on social media. The singer did a TikTok Live in February to explain how her appearance has changed due to the medication she takes for her lupus condition.

“When I’m off of it, I tend to lose weight,” she explained. “I just wanted to say and encourage anyone out there who feels any sort of shame for exactly what they’re going through, and no one knows the real story.”

Gomez continued: “I just want people to know that you’re beautiful, and you’re wonderful. Yeah, we have days where maybe we feel like s***, but I would rather be healthy and take care of myself. My medications are important, and I believe that they’re what helps me.”

After the Only Murders in the Building star added that she “was not a model” and “never” would be one, she thanked her fans for supporting her. She also told people who didn’t support her to “go away,” because she doesn’t “believe in shaming people for [their appearance] or anything.”

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