SZA spoke up in defense of her longtime friend, Lizzo, two years after the musician was sued by a group of her former employees.
In 2023, the four-time Grammy winner was sued by three of her former backup dancers for sexual harassment, disability discrimination and false imprisonment, among other claims. In the same year, Lizzo was sued by an ex-stylist for bullying, sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment. Lizzo was dismissed from the latter case, while the case involving her former dancers will proceed to trial.
In a recent New York Magazine profile, SZA spoke up for her "IRL" collaborator, who she's staunchly supported in the years since the lawsuits. "It was so weird to watch everybody attack her because it actually had nothing to do with what was going on," the singer-songwriter told the publication.
"I think what’s special about my friend is she is a master healer," SZA continued. "She is always going to get to the bottom of herself. Nobody cleared her name for her. Nobody could give her that vindication; she gave it to herself. I just felt like she 100 percent genie’d herself through that."
This summer alone, SZA and Lizzo have let the public in on their friendship through their aforementioned collaboration and Lizzo being a surprise guest during two stops of the Grand National Tour.
In the months following the lawsuits, Lizzo recounted that she began to lose friends in "emotionally violent ways." "All I had was my therapist, but then I was too depressed to even want to talk to my fucking therapist," she said.
The musician also recalled having suicidal ideations, which she said was comparable to the death of her father in 2009.
"I was staring at the ceiling and feeling a stillness come over me and being like, If I died right now, it would be fine," Lizzo said.
Also in the article, Lizzo revealed that her plans to release her intended fifth album, Love In Real Life, might be on hold after the missteps of her two lead singles.
"I sat down at the table and I said, ‘I need to do shit my way starting from now. And I need y’all to have my back. It’s going to be a little scary,'" she said. “And everybody agreed, and they said, 'We got your back, whatever you need.'"
