Update, 3:40 p.m.: Ooof. We now hear via Just Jared that these quotes are supposedly fake. Christina’s rep has said she never made these comments to Billboard. We’ll keep you posted on this weird story. [Just Jared]
“During the promotion of my album ‘Stripped (in 2002), I got tired of being a skinny, white girl. I am Ecuadorian but people felt so safe passing me off as a skinny, blue-eyed white girl. The next time my label saw me, I was heavier, darker and full of piercings! Let me tell you, that wasn’t an easy pill for them to swallow. They called this serious emergency meeting about how there was a lot of backlash about my weight. Basically, they told me I would effect a lot of people if I gained weight – the production, musical directors. … I told (my label) during this ‘Lotus’ recording, ‘You are working with a fat girl. Know it now and get over it. They need a reminder sometimes that I don’t belong to them. It’s my body. My body can’t put anyone in jeopardy of not making money anymore — my body is just not on the table that way anymore.
– Christina Aguilera spoke to Billboard about her new album Lotus and hit on something that women in the music biz can be somewhat skittish (understandably) to discuss publicly: the way your body is part of your product as much as your voice. It’s always struck me as an unfair double standard. I mean, Cee Lo clearly is not getting called in and being told to drop some weight. And it’s especially dispiriting that a singer with a phenomenal voice like Christina Aguilera has to deal with that shite. Good for her for putting her foot down! Between this and Lady Gaga’s admission last week that’s she’s battled anorexia and bulimia, it’s really the week of pop stars speaking out — and we’ll all be better for it. [New York Daily News] [Photo: Splash News]
