The Rise
Born Melissa Jefferson, Lizzo is best known as a US singer and rapper, who kickstarted her career with her hits Juice and Good As Hell in 2019.
Her music career first took off while she was living in Minneapolis, and she received huge support from legendary artist Prince.
During her rise to stardom, Lizzo performed with many different groups and duos, forming an electro soul-pop duo called Lizzo and the Larva Inks, as well as an all-female rap and R&B group, The Chalice.
Her father, Michael, passed away when she was 21, and following his death, Lizzo struggled with her mental mental health and lived in her car while pursuing music as a career.
When her song Truth Hurts flopped in 2017, Lizzo admitted she came dangerously close to quitting music and sought therapy, telling
The Times in 2020: 'That was really scary.
'But being vulnerable with someone I didn’t know, then learning how to be vulnerable with people that I do know, gave me the courage to be vulnerable as a vocalist.'
The tracks that made Lizzo a star were a far cry from her original career path as a classical flutist, though she regularly shows off her skills on-stage.
Her first major label album Cuz I Love You, made it into the Billboard Top Ten, a featured the one-flopped track Truth Hurts, which received a huge resurgence despite originally being released in 2017.
Lizzo released her second mainstream album, Special, in 2022, which featured one of her most well-known tracks About Damn Time, which soared to number one on the US charts.
The Fall
While on the outside, Lizzo's series was praised for its body positive image, over a year later, perceptions have changed.
In August 2023 it was revealed that she is being sued by three of her former backup dancers who accused her of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment.
The plaintiffs - her former dancers - are named in the lawsuit as Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams, and Noelle Rodriguez. Williams and Davis both appeared on the recent Amazon Prime reality show 'Lizzo's Watch Out for the Big Grrrls' - about the singer's quest to find backup dancers.
It accused the famous singer of 'inviting cast members to take turns touching the nude performers,' inside an Amsterdam strip club, the suit states.
She allegedly encouraged 'catching dildos launched from the performers' vaginas, and eating bananas protruding from the performers' vaginas.'
Ron Zambrano, the women's lawyer, said in the suit, revealed first by
NBC News: 'The stunning nature of how Lizzo and her management team treated their performers seems to go against everything Lizzo stands for publicly.
'While privately she weight-shames her dancers and demeans them in ways that are not only illegal but absolutely demoralizing.'
Lizzo is not the only named defendant in the case, which was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday.
Her dance captain, Shirlene Quigley, is also facing a slew of accusations.
Quigley, according to the lawsuit, shared 'lewd sexual fantasies,' and publicly discussed the virginity of one of the plaintiffs while berating those who had had pre-marital sex.
The complaints for all damages include: Hostile work environment, sexual harassment, religious harassment, racial harassment, disability discrimination, and failure to prevent or remedy the harassment.
Lizzo is specifically accused of disability discrimination, creating a hostile work environment, sexual harassment, and failing to stop said issues.
Her touring company Big Grrrl Big Touring Inc. is also named as a defendant.
Inside the Amsterdam strip joint, Lizzo allegedly 'turned her attention to Ms. Davis and began pressuring Ms. Davis to touch the breasts of one of the nude women.'
Davis refused multiple times, while the popstar allegedly chanted louder and louder to encourage her to do the act, the lawsuit claimed. Davis eventually did touch the performer.
In another instance, the plaintiffs claim Lizzo invited the dancers to a club in Paris - but failed to mention that it was a nude cabaret bar. This 'shocked' the dancers, who said Lizzo 'robbed them of the choice not to participate,' the suit said.
Lizzo also allegedly made a claim the dancers were drinking before performances, which Williams then spoke out about. The popstar allegedly made the group go through an 'excruciating' 12-hour rehearsal.
Davis, meanwhile, soiled her pants during the intense rehearsal because she was so fearful she'd lose her job, the documents state. She was then handed a see-through outfit with no undergarments to finish the performance, the suit said.
Rodriguez complained to a manager about the decision to publicly fire Williams, after Lizzo had told the group she had 'eyes and ears everywhere.'
Davis recorded the meeting on April 27, because she claimed she suffers from an eye condition that leaves her disoriented.
But as a result, Lizzo held a meeting and had security confiscate dancers' phones, the lawsuit claimed.
When Davis tried to tell Lizzo and Quigley she meant no harm recording the meeting, they berated her and Lizzo fired her on the spot, the suit read.
Rodriguez then expressed how she felt disrespected and threatened to resign - to which Lizzo said she was 'lucky.'
When Rodriguez did indeed quit, Lizzo showed her two middle fingers and yelled a slur at her, the lawsuit claimed.
After the lawsuit was filed in
Los Angeles,
two more women came forward with similar claims - dancer Courtney Hollinquest and director Sophia Nahil Allison.
'For clarification, I'm not a part of of the lawsuit - but this was very much my experience in my time there,' Hollinquest began.
'Big shoutout to the dancers who had the courage to bring this to light,' she added, with a black prayer hand emoji and a black hand heart emoji.
Quinn Wilson, who previously worked as Lizzo's creative director, also shared Hollinquest's Instagram story and added her own insight.
'Echoing what @cquestt said. I haven't been a part of that world for around three years, for a reason,' Wilson said in her own caption.
'I very much applaud the dancers' courage to bring this to light. And I grieve parts of my own experience. I'd appreciate space to understand my feelings,' Wilson concluded.
Hollinquest added in her own caption, 'My sister forever. Only a few knew what we've been through... Love u Quinn.'
Hollinquest added in another Instagram story post, 'To know me is to know I love community - and that my forever mission is to create safe spaces, especially for BIPOC femmes.'
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