Lizzo Discusses Fame Not Changing Her Depression & Anxiety

There’s a saying that goes, “money doesn’t buy happiness,” but there are millions of people hoping to find out for themselves. We live in a generation where people are using every resource possible to attain fame and riches, but many who have acquired both have openly discussed why it isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. 

In her cover story for Variety, Lizzo spoke on a myriad of topics, including the struggles she has endured with her mental health. The award-winning singer admitted that despite the shift in her notoriety and bank account, those internal issues she was facing didn’t change. 

“Fame happens to you, and it’s more of an observation of you. People become famous, and it’s like—my DNA didn’t change. Nothing changed about me,” she told the outlet. “My anxiety didn’t go away. My depression didn’t go away. The things that I love didn’t go away. I’m still myself. But the way y’all look at me and perceive me has changed. It’s a very weird, kind of formless thing.” 

“I don’t want to seem ungrateful. It was sad, and I had to talk to my therapist about the loss of who I was,” she continued. “Most famous people have been famous just as long as they’ve been a person, so they have acclimated more to it. I was going into dive bars and getting shitfaced in 2018. And nobody knew who I was, and nobody was bothering me.”

Lizzo also admitted to feeling like a “burden” back in 2019 when she began to realize she couldn’t do simple things with her loved ones like going to out a restaurant.

“I had to call security, and they had to call a car, and we had to sit and wait,” she said. “And I was like, ‘Damn. I’m just a burden to my friends, and things are different now.’ It bummed me out, because you do lose a sense of your privacy and yourself, the old self. I’m good with it now. I’m fine. I’m young. I’m talented. I deserve the attention.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Variety (@variety)

[via]