Christina Aguilera says that nowadays, comments on the internet about her body are something she simply brushes off.
In a cover story for Glamour, the “Genie in a Bottle” singer, 43, got candid about facing intense scrutiny over her appearance from the media since the 2000s, and how she’s grown not to care about what people think of her.
“I have a maturity now where I just don’t give a fuck about your opinion. I’m not going to take it on,” Aguilera said in the story, published Thursday. “It must be your responsibility to take up your space. Other people’s opinions of me are not my business.”
In May, Aguilera’s weight loss sparked rumors on social media that she was taking Ozempic, a diabetes treatment that controls blood sugar levels. Some people use Ozempic as an off-label weight-loss drug. Actor Rebel Wilson and TV personality Sharon Osbourne, among others, have acknowledged using Ozempic to lose weight despite a public stigma attached to it.
Some social media users speculated about Aguilera’s seemingly thinner appearance on a viral TikTok video posted on May 19. One commenter wrote: “Dang, she looks amazing! Wish I could be on Ozempic like everyone else, too, but afraid of the side effects.”
Aguilera told Glamour that her self-esteem used to depend on the opinions of others, and that her confidence took a hit after her peers criticized her appearance as “unacceptable” once she started getting curves later in life.
“When you’re a teenager, you have a very different body than when you’re in your 20s,” she explained. “I started to fill out, and then that was unacceptable because it was like, ‘Oh, she’s getting thicker.’ Then I had industry people: ‘They liked your body and how you were as a skinny teenager.’”
She said she hopes she’s given her kids the mental fortitude to ignore negative comments, because she doesn’t want them to suffer through the same experiences she did.
Aguilera shares a son, Max, with her ex-husband Jordan Bratman, and a daughter, Summer, with her fiancé Matt Rutler.
“Your kids trigger things in you that you don’t want them to go through,” she said. “And it’s almost like you’re reliving this whole thing again.”
“I’ve seen so much so young,” Aguilera added. “You just want the best for your kids.”
