Singer JoJo revealed in a new interview with Popsugar that she was under so much pressure to lose weight that she used to inject herself with supplements and severely limit her calorie intake.
“Here’s something that I agreed to do that ended up messing with me psychologically,” the “Leave (Get Out)” singer, 25, said. “I was under a lot of pressure with a company I was at previously, and they wanted me to lose weight fast. So they got me with a nutritionist and had me … on all these supplements, and I was injecting myself — this is a common thing ‘the girls’ do, by the way — it makes your body only need certain calories, so I ate 500 calories a day. It was the most unhealthy thing I’ve ever done.”
JoJo didn’t explain what the “injections” were but stated that she was around 17 or 18 at the time and was no longer under her mom’s management.
“I felt terrible about myself, and I was upset that I even subscribed to the standard they wanted me to be at,” the songstress told Popsugar, adding that she ended up “gaining all the weight back.”
![Jojo](/wp-content/uploads/jojo-2004-8bc8568e-f953-4157-a793-b7ae2689aff1.jpg?w=1000&quality=74&strip=all)
“I felt like, ‘If I don’t do this, my album won’t come out.’ Which it didn’t! So it’s not like it even worked!” the singer recalled.
JoJo, who released her first self-titled album in 2004, has been busy working on new music and not succumbing to pressure.
“I listen to other people’s opinions. Listening and following are different things,” she told Popsugar of herself nowadays. “I think listening and showing respect to people you respect … it works for me. What you think about yourself and the decisions you make is what’s most important.”