On Body Positivity and the Real Meaning of "Self-Care"
"At a certain point I kind of realised that my body wasn't going to change unless I did something drastic, which I didn't have money [for]. When I started discovering my self-love and trying to be more positive about my body, this was like 10 years ago, and I was broke. I was like, I have no plastic surgery options, there's no crazy dieting options; I've been big my whole life. 'Just deal with it! Just accept your body!' I made a decision that I would eventually be happy about it, and it took a long time. Ten years later, I have a healthy relationship with my body."
"I say this on-stage to everybody: 'I'm not gonna sell you the commercialised self-love. I'm not gonna sell you the hashtag self-care.' I'm not into that. I feel a responsibility as a pioneer in this wave of body positivity to push the narrative further."
"I'm excited that treating mental illness and the idea self-care are becoming part of the zeitgeist — but I also don't want it to turn into something that loses its weight or validity. Self-care is more than just going to the spa, getting your nails done or drinking a mimosa 'cause it's Sunday.' It is so much deeper than what commercialisation is going to try to turn it into."
"I love creating shapes with my body, and I love normalising the dimples in my butt or the lumps in my thighs or my back fat or my stretch marks. I love normalising my Black-ass elbows. I think it's beautiful."
"Even when body positivity is over, it's not like I'm going to be a thin white woman. I'm going to be black and fat. That's just hopping on a trend and expecting people to blindly love themselves. That's fake love. I'm trying to figure out how to actually live it."