Lizzo Recalls Hitting 'Very, Very Low Place' After Backlash: 'My Life Was Over'

Lizzo is getting candid about the moment the backlash became so overwhelming that she genuinely felt like her “life was over.”

The “Truth Hurts” singer opened up about the difficult period during her appearance on Dax Shepard’s "Armchair Expert" podcast on Monday, September 7.

“I wasn’t even really perceiving how famous I had gotten,” Lizzo said, reflecting on the height of her career.

“I feel like a regular girl in the Twin Cities, walk into the bar, going to get some cheese curds and a beer. I still feel like that girl," she added.

“But the whole world is like, everything I did was news. I had been going full throttle. It was like, clothing line. It was like, TV show, tour, album, actually really doing well. Like, oh my God. I didn’t even know how well the album was doing. I wasn’t paying attention,” she recalled.

That success changed dramatically after three of Lizzo’s former backup dancers filed a lawsuit against her, her production company and dance captain Shirlene Quigley in August 2023. The dancers accused the pop star and others of sexual, religious and racial harassment, disability discrimination and creating a hostile work environment, among other allegations. The 38-year-old has denied the accusations.

Her former wardrobe assistant, Asha Daniels, also filed a lawsuit against Lizzo’s touring company that year. On September 1 of this year, a federal judge dismissed the remaining claims against the touring company, while Daniels’ racial bias claims were also dismissed.

Amid the fallout, she stepped away from music following the end of her Special Tour in July 2023.

“When everybody started hating me, I kind of didn’t understand,” she told Shepard, adding, “I had experienced little waves of it, but this time after my [Special Tour] ended, it was, like, legitimate.”

“So I really did feel like my life was over because music had been my life, and I didn’t feel like anyone wanted me to make music anymore,” Lizzo continued.

“It was really heavy. It’s really heavy. And I think you have to kind of go to a very, very, very, very low place to be able to kind of float back up to the top," she said.

Lizzo said she eventually realized she needed to separate her identity from her career.

“You know, what I came to is knowing who you are and not what you do. I feel like I had been identifying myself as what I do for so long, instead of remembering who I am because that’s my job," she said.

She added, “It was extremely freeing because I’m like, ‘Oh, only I know me, only I know who I am and I need to remember that and not allow someone to change that because I can do that too.’”

The singer previously sparked concern in 2024 when she posted “I QUIT” on Instagram, saying she was tired of being “dragged by everyone in my life and on the internet.” Lizzo later clarified that she wasn't quitting music, but was instead quitting giving negative energy her attention.