Thanksgiving in a Subaru, Grammys later

In 2009 the singer and rapper Lizzo was in her early career when her life was suddenly upended. Her father died unexpectedly that year. Soon afterwards she lost both her job and her apartment, and she found herself living in her 1998 Subaru. The coverage of her story, drawn from interviews she gave in 2022, does not say which city she was in, how old she was, or how many weeks or months she spent in the car.

The period is tied in her memory to Thanksgiving. Her HBO Max documentary, Love, Lizzo, returns to that holiday, when she remembers crying in the car. Speaking to Variety, she called it a trauma that she wishes could have been avoided and said she is still working through it. She explained that the holiday season brings back fear and anxiety, and that she still sometimes feels that something is going to be taken away from her.

She has also been candid that she did not manage to stay positive through that stretch. In a TikTok question-and-answer session in September, she said she coped by reminding herself that it was only one part of her story. The article does not describe a single turning point that ended the period.

What it does show is how far her life moved afterwards. Since 2009 she has won three Grammy Awards, including Best Pop Solo Performance for Truth Hurts in 2020, and she received five nominations for her album Special. Her reality series Watch Out for the Big Grrrls won an Emmy for Outstanding Competition Program. Today she says she is grateful for what she has: a house, family, friends and people who love her, and a sense of control over her own situation.