Singer JoJo Reveals the Unhealthy Lengths She Went to as Child Star
The 25-year-old says she used to take supplements.
— -- JoJo, born Joanna Levesque, was a sensation in the mid-2000's with hits like "Leave (Get Out)." But then she dropped off the map a bit, partly from a legal battle with her now-defunct label, where she couldn't release new music for a handful of years.
The 25-year-old just released her new single "F--- Apologies," featuring Wiz Khalifa, and is now signed to Atlantic Records.
But the past still lingers.
In an interview with Popsugar, the young star talks about the lengths she went to be skinny when she first popped on the scene in her teens.
"Here's something that I agreed to do that ended up messing with me psychologically," JoJo told Popsugar. "I was under a lot of pressure with a company I was at previously and they wanted me to lose weight fast."
She continued, "So they got me with a nutritionist and had me, like, on all these supplements, and I was injecting myself -- this is a common thing 'the girls' do all the way -- it makes your body only need certain calories, so I ate 500 calories a day."
The singer now admits, "It was the most unhealthy thing I've ever done."
But it's not all scars from her past. JoJo also spoke to People magazine about moving forward.
"I feel like myself again. I've been singing since I was 2 years old, so this is really an extension of who I am, and I'm just really thankful that there are people who have stuck by me and people who still want to listen," she said of new music through Atlantic.
She added about her newfound confidence, "When I was maybe 12, I went through media training, and they taught me how to be the perfect pop princess. I think they were scared that I was a little too rough around the edges, a little too ... imperfect? And it's taken me a few years to shed what I learned and to really be myself."
