The Story of Lizzo, Who Used to Sleep in Her car, and Now Owns a 26-Million-Dollar Mansion and 3 Grammy Awards

Melissa Viviane Jefferson, or Lizzo is one of the most famous singers of today, whose songs become hits and appear on almost every single TikTok. But few people know about the hardships this woman had to endure to pave her way into the world of music and become famous.

Out of her 34 years, Lizzo devoted 24 years to music.

Lizzo is an example of a person, who knows exactly what she wants from life. At the age of 10, she started to play music professionally. She says that she got interested in it because her parents were constantly busy at work, and her older brother and sister had their own interests.

When Melissa was in 6th grade, “the flute chose her,” when her school’s band director asked Lizzo if she wanted to learn the instrument. She quickly became the best flute player in Texas. And at 14, she organized her own rap band and came up with the stage name Lizzo.

Talented and hardworking Lizzo won a scholarship and started studying music at the University of Houston. She played in an orchestra and dreamed of becoming a member of a symphony ensemble. But all Lizzo’s plans started to crumble: her father got seriously ill, and the family started to have money issues. On top of that, Lizzo got a little lost in herself: she loved rap and big parties, and at the same time, she was into classical music. She didn’t understand how to combine these 2 selves.

So, she decided to drop out of University. She remembers those days, “I was sad and disappointed in myself because I’d always been so advanced in school, the golden child. So when I wasn’t successful, I was like, ‘Who am I?’ I thought my life was going to be something else, and it wasn’t happening.”

Devastated, she returned to her parents’ home and got depressed. She said that she hadn’t bathed all summer and hadn’t said one word to her family. When her relatives asked her how she felt, she’s just shrugged and go to her room.

2009 was the hardest year of her life.

Probably, every person has a difficult year that led to a lot of turning points. For 21-year-old Lizzo, 2009 was such a year. The ex-student moved to a new city and tried to get into the world of big music. For 6 months, she performed with a rock band, slept in her own car, and had a shower in the gym.

At around the same time, Lizzo’s father passed away, which only worsened the future star’s mental health. It was then that her depression started to get worse. She didn’t only worry about having no money or a place to live. She also didn’t like her appearance. She remembers, “I didn’t love myself until I was 21. Twenty-one was the worst year of my life.”

Lizzo would go to the gym and suffer, until one beautiful morning, she woke up with the idea that she needed to accept her appearance and not try to look like Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé that were constantly on MTV at the time. 9 months later, Lizzo moved to a new town when her friend invited her, and started from square one.

Lizzo didn’t give up and released her first album in 2013.

When Lizzo finally made her first album, people started to recognize her. In 2014, Time named her one of 14 music artists to watch, in 2014.

In 2015, the singer took part in music tours and then became one of the hosts of MTV’s Wonderland. But Lizzo wasn’t really interested in a career on tv: she still wanted to become a solo singer.

The star shared, “I believed in myself in rock bands, R&B groups, and rap duos. But I never believed in myself as a solo artist. I didn’t think anyone wanted to look at me or hear what I had to say.”

To achieve certain goals, Lizzo had therapy.

In 2018, Lizzo decided to make an important step and went to a therapist. And it really changed her life, “That was really scary. But going on that journey of being vulnerable with someone who I didn’t know, and then learning how to be vulnerable with people that I do know, gave me the courage to be vulnerable as a vocalist.”

1 year later, the singer released her first full-format solo album which quickly won the love of the public. It has 11 songs, and each of them is based on Lizzo’s personal experience.

Probably, the therapy helped Lizzo find a perfect balance between loud parties, rap, and classical music. And in 2019, Lizzo performed at the BET Awards and stunned the guests with her amazing flute skills. And Rihanna gave her a standing ovation.

2019 became the year of wins for Lizzo. Time named her artist of the year, and she was invited to Saturday Night Live as a musical guest. And Lizzo recalled her experience of having a temporary job and wearing the Statue of Liberty costume.

“I’m a Body Icon.”

Lizzo, that experiences body-shaming in her youth, is now the icon of body positivity. She tries to do everything in her power to normalize the look of a beautiful, confident, plus-sized woman. She says, “If you saw Anne Hathaway in a bikini on a billboard, you wouldn’t call her brave. I just think there’s a double standard when it comes to women.”

According to her, it’s the absence of variety in fashion magazines that affected her mental state. In her childhood, Lizzo constantly lived with a feeling that there was something wrong with her appearance. This is why she does everything to give plus-sized women a place to speak out.

She organized her own show, Watch Out for the Big Grrrls to find a team of dancers to look like her. She said, “When I was a little girl, all I wanted to see was me in the media, someone fat like me, black like me, beautiful like me.”

Lizzo has done tremendous work to become famous and recognized. And now, she is a happy winner of 3 Grammy Awards. Her name is in the Guinness Book of Records because one of her songs was first place on the charts for many weeks. And she’s recently bought a mansion for 26 million dollars.

Of course, she’s not going to stop, and we wish her happiness in all of her beginnings.

Do you listen to Lizzo? Which of her songs do you like the most?