JoJo reflects on fame's toll: Overcoming industry pressures

JoJo, whose real name is Joanna Noelle Levesque, is a well-known American singer who turned 34 years old on December 20, 2024. As a young vocalist, she gained immense popularity with hits like "Leave (Get Out)" and "Too Little, Too Late." Her debut album "JoJo" sold approximately 1.5 million copies in the United States, which was a significant achievement for the then 13-year-old artist. Thanks to her talent and charisma, JoJo quickly became an icon for the younger generation.

Fame had its price. "I was 18, I remember being sat down in the (now defunct Blackground Records) office and the president of the label being like, 'We just want you to look as healthy as possible'," JoJo said in one of the interviews. Soon, the approach of the music label's employees significantly affected the young singer's health.

Gaining popularity at a young age can be difficult to handle, as JoJo painfully discovered. In an interview with Uproxx, the singer admitted that as a teenager, she felt immense pressure. JoJo was eager to meet expectations and quickly create another hit. She reportedly heard from producers that her appearance did not match the songs being recorded.

"I was like, 'I’m actually the picture of health, I actually look like a healthy girl who eats and is active and I don’t think this is about my health. I think that you want me to be really skinny'," the vocalist told Uproxx.

At that time, JoJo began following a debilitating diet that allowed her to consume only 500 calories a day. According to experts, the daily requirement for teenagers aged 18 is on average between 2,150-2,850 calories.

In an interview with the mentioned service, JoJo revealed that the 500-calorie-a-day menu was set up by her... dietitian. The young singer was also to receive special injections that made her not feel hungry.

"I was like, 'Let me see how skinny I can get, because maybe then they’ll put out an album. Maybe I’m just so disgusting that no one wants to see me in a video and that they can’t even look at me.' That’s really what I thought," the artist recalled.

Following the draconian diet led JoJo to eating disorders. The teenage singer also started leading a party lifestyle and abusing alcohol. The first signs of depression appeared. Fortunately, by 2014 she ended her collaboration with the former producers. She took care of her health and slowly began to recover. Later, she spoke many times about what she had experienced — in doing so, she wanted to show what comes with popularity and living under constant pressure.