Lizzo's Mom Dishes on Her Daughter's Remarkable Rise to Fame

Jennifer Mattern

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The verdict is in: Lizzo’s mom and sister are officially good as hell.

Access Online popped by the Taste of Lizzo food truck run by Shari Johnson-Jefferson, Lizzo’s mom, and Vanessa Jefferson, Lizzo’s sis, outside the Lizzo’s concert at the Hollywood Palladium to dish on what it’s like to be related to the “Truth Hurts” queen. The two were serving up fried salmon balls and “tempo tots” (two of Lizzo’s favorite foods, despite the fact that Lizzo “doesn’t even like fish”).

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The interview that resulted is just as warm and wonderful as you might expect. It’s clear that Lizzo’s messages of unconditional love come from growing up in this supportive, close-knit fam.

Shari and Vanessa have been with Lizzo on tour, marveling at the girl they once knew as Melissa (Lizzo’s birth name).

“Us being together has been the best part,” said Shari of Lizzo’s rocket-ship rise to fame.

“And the travel,” enthused sis Vanessa. “I’m loving all the travel, just being able to see her go across the country and touch people.”

Another fave moment for mom Shari? Getting to meet Prince — an early supporter of Lizzo’s — before he passed away. Lizzo even collaborated with him on his 2014 album “Plectrumelectrum” on the song “BoyTrouble,” an experience she referred to as “surreal,” and “like a fairytale.”

“He was just sitting there on his motorcycle… he looked like a mannequin, oh, he was just so beautiful,” Shari gushed. She said she greeted him with a “hey, how you doing?” Prince replied, “I’m good,” which slayed Shari. “After it was over we walked out of the room like AAAHHHHHHHHHH,” she sighed.

Lizzo occasionally posts pictures of her family on Instagram, like the one below:

“My beautiful family,” Lizzo wrote in the caption. “I’m so thankful to share this energetic DNA, there’s no one on this planet I am closer to. Thank you for showing me how to lead. Thank you for being my will to live after daddy passed. Thank you for supporting me even though I am stubbornly self-sufficient. Thank you for allowing me to be myself. I know y’all don’t like to be on social media like that lol… but I wanna scream from the mountain tops my love for you.”

Somehow we’re thinking her mom and sister have come around to the whole social media thing, judging from their eagerness to chat with Access Online — even about twerking.

Shari said in the interview, “I asked her to teach me how to do it [the twerking]… she won’t show me!”

Vanessa said she didn’t know where her sister got the mad twerking skills: “It just comes natural to her!”

Mom Shari continued, “I’m so proud of her… this has just been the greatest ride.”

Vanessa added, “It’s like being in a tornado and sitting in the middle where it’s so calm… and like, yo, what happened?” She continued, “We just lift her up and make sure she shines and just gives this message of love. It’s really necessary these days.”

Lizzo also has a brother, Mikey — to whom she gifted a piano on his birthday. Awwwww:

It’s clear from Lizzo’s posts that the whole family’s missing her dad, Michael Jefferson, who died in 2010.

His death threw Lizzo into a deep depression. The singer recently told Trevor Noah, “I was like, ‘I have no reason to do this anymore because I was doing it for him… but then I realized I have to do this for myself, because he was doing it for me.”

We have a feeling Lizzo’s dad would have plenty to say right now — and would be happily working the food truck outside the concert with Vanessa and Shari if he were here. The truth doesn’t always hurt, and in the case of Lizzo’s family, the truth is positively sweet.

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