Lizzo helped an Aussie girl face bullies. She's still reeling

Lizzo smiling in a sparkly silver bodysuit and bubblegum pink wig.

July 26, 2023 Updated 6:54 PM PT

Lizzo has a gift for making people feel special.

An uplifting video of the “Special” artist at a recent concert in Sydney encouraging a young fan to stand up to her bullies went viral this week on social media. In the clip, Lizzo invites 11-year-old Monroe Mills onstage after spotting her sign in the crowd.

“Pls help me show my haters that I’m 100% that b—,” read the poster, which references Lizzo’s hit song “Truth Hurts.”

“You don’t need my help,” the pop musician told the little girl holding the sign.

“You are so cool. You are that chick. Your hair, laid. You got the glitter on your arms. You got the lipstick poppin’. You got the face glitter. You look good, so how do you need my help?”

Speaking into a microphone provided by a member of the production crew, Monroe replied, “I get bullied on social media, and they always tell me I’m not good enough ’cause I like to dance and sing, and I want to be like you. I love you.”

After listening to Monroe’s story, Lizzo instructed the production staff to escort the aspiring performer to the stage, where the “About Damn Time” hitmaker placed her arm around the young concertgoer and delivered an empowering speech.

“How could somebody say something hurtful or harmful to a young person like this?” Lizzo said.

“The words that we say have a long-lasting effect on people. And Monroe, you’re talented and you’re beautiful and you’re incredible and you’re special. You can do anything. And you’re so young. You could be the greatest dancer in the world. You have so much time. We need to take a video right now, and we need to talk to your haters.”

Before resuming the concert, Lizzo obtained a phone from Monroe’s mother, Sarah Mills, and filmed the pre-teen showing off some of her dance moves onstage as the crowd chanted her name. (Mills later shared the video on TikTok.)

“Don’t talk about my bestie ... no more,” the Grammy winner said, turning the camera on herself. “You’re gonna have to go through me. She’s a star. She’s a diva.”

Throughout the entire exchange, Monroe wore a giant smile on her face and beamed at her idol-turned-cheerleader. In a phone interview with the Los Angeles Times, Monroe said she was “so in shock” when Lizzo brought her onstage.

“Lizzo knew my name, and Lizzo told my haters to stop,” Monroe said. “It makes me feel so special, and I just still can’t believe that happened.”

When Monroe told her mom she wanted to see Lizzo perform in Sydney — six hours away from their home in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales — her mom jokingly replied that she had two weeks to raise money for the tickets herself. Monroe immediately got to work, hijacking her mom’s TikTok account to sell digital art she created. Within two days, the 11-year-old raised enough money to cover both their tickets, airfare and lodging at a motel.

Mills told The Times that her daughter’s “little hands were sore for days” from all the drawings she made for the cause.

“[Lizzo] is so lovely and kind and sweet and amazing, and her songs just make me feel so cool and loving,” Monroe told The Times. “And she works so hard. ... I learned that she worked hard and even slept in her car to become successful.”

According to her mother, Monroe has experienced homelessness as well — in addition to myriad health issues and bullying at school and online. Even before the Sydney concert, Lizzo had already helped Monroe through hard times.

“I would just listen to a song of hers, and it would just make me feel so happy,” she told The Times.

Eventually, Monroe hopes to sing, dance “and even act all over the world.” Her dream is to “be like Lizzo and inspire other girls” to love themselves like the “Juice” performer has inspired her. Ever since footage from the concert went viral, Mills says, Monroe is already doing just that.

“There’s a lot of support saying how incredible Monroe is, but there’s also a lot of messages coming in from people, women, grown adults who feel so inspired by Monroe’s confidence, and it’s inspiring them to continue to chase their dreams, which is such a beautiful, profound thing,” Mills told The Times.

“It’s actually helping and healing so many people.”

On her personal Instagram account, Monroe often posts videos of herself singing and dancing. She’s gained nearly 2,000 followers on social media since Lizzo plucked her from the crowd.

Where does Monroe find the confidence to perform for thousands of followers on Instagram — or 20,000 Lizzo fans at the Qudos Bank Arena?

“I just say, ‘Feel the fear, and do it anyway,’” she said. “Don’t let anyone stop you, and never let anyone put you down.”