Lizzo reveals 'psychological toll' of growing up without body positivity on TV

The star also spoke about suffering from anxiety

2019 has been Lizzo's year, fact. From receiving a standing ovation from Rihanna for her performance at the B.E.T Awards to scoring the longest running number 1 by a solo female rapper with Truth Hurts, and giving everything her vocals allow to sell-out crowds - the star is undoubtedly 100 per cent that b****.

She's also 100 per cent honest, and it's refreshing to hear the super talented musician and body positivity activist open up about the 'psychological toll' growing up and not seeing women and girls who looked like her on television or in books caused.

She told British Vogue, 'I would watch things on television and I would look at magazines and I would not see myself. When you don’t see yourself, you start to think something’s wrong with you. Then you want to look like those things and when you realise it’s a physical impossibility, you start to think, ‘What the fuck is wrong with me?’ I think that took a greater toll on me, psychologically, growing up than what anyone could have said to me.'

Now, 31-year-old Lizzo is passionate about being unapologetically herself, and she explained, 'Anybody that uses body positivity to sell something is using it for their personal gain. We weren’t selling anything in the beginning. We were just selling ourselves and selling ourselves on the idea – selling ourselves on ourselves, you know?'

She went on to say, 'I’m not trying to sell you me. I’m trying to sell you, you.' Powerful stuff.

The star also spoke candidly about battling anxiety, admitting, 'When I get really, really anxious before a show, I just go harder and harder and harder when I’m performing and I just go crazy. I don’t know why, but my anxiety sometimes fuels who I am as a performer and who I am as an artist – and I know that is not the case for everyone.

'I don’t know if my body just, like, out of a desperate need to find a place for my anxiety or find a use for it, takes it and puts it there.'

Clearly proud of her cover debut, Lizzo uploaded six images from the shoot to her Instagram page and joked, 'You thought I wasn’t gonna post every single shot?'

But then she switched to serious mode, captioning one, 'Big black girls, if you’re reading this... you’re a cover star. Nothin less. Period Pooh. Fin bitch. Thank you British Vogue', and another, 'Taking up space. Claiming my time'.

Lizzo, this is most definitely your time. Long may it last.