Roseanne Barr Wants Lizzo to ‘Thank’ Her for ‘Paving the Way’

Roseanne Barr is looking for credit for representing curvy body types in Hollywood.

The actress took to Instagram on Monday (June 26) to share a throwback Vanity Fair cover from 1994, shot by Annie Leibovitz, in which she’s seen posing on a chair in lacy black lingerie and heels. “When is @lizzobeeating going to thank me for paving the way. An homage to Botero,” she captioned the post, tagging Lizzo directly.

See the post here.

While Lizzo has yet to respond to Roseanne’s post, the “Special” singer has been an advocate for body confidence and self-love since the start of her career. “Your body is perfectly yours, even if it ain’t perfect to anybody else,” she narrated a powerful 2020 social media clip, for example. “If you only knew the complexities your body possesses, you would be so proud of it. I’m so proud of you for making it this far in a society that gives us a head start into self-loathing, that hands us a dysmorphic mirror and leaves us desperate to catch up with who we think we should be. I’ve spent so much time in this body and I am no different than you — still struggling to find balance, still trying to mend my relationship with food, my anxiety, my back fat. It gets easier. I’ve spent my hardest days trying to love me.”

While Roseanne has represented a plus-size body type in the media before Lizzo skyrocketed into stardom, the sitcom star’s public discourse has been less about body positivity and more about her weight loss journey, including a 1998 gastric bypass surgery and a subsequent tummy tuck. “I had a huge overhang and I had it taken off,” she told People in 2003. “It was a little more than a tuck.”

“I went on a new diet. It’s radical and revolutionary. It’s where you eat less and move more—you know, just simple,” she later told TODAY of her weight loss in 2014. “I just want to keep getting healthy and let go of excess baggage to carry around, so I’m lighter on my feet and in my life.”