Christina Aguilera was told that she 'didn't have the right to her own' body in early pop career

Bang Showbiz on Jun 13, 2025

Published in Women

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Christina Aguilera was told that she "didn't have the right to her own" body at one point in her pop career.

The 44-year-old singer had just released her fourth studio album Stripped in 2002 when she opted for a more raunchy sound and look with the track Dirrty but recalled "facing quite a bit of backlash" at the time, even though she was just "expressing herself" in the way that she wanted to.

Speaking as part of a panel alongside Halle Berry at the Bare It All Event in California, she explained: "I remember, just releasing my Stripped album, I faced quite a bit of backlash with my song Dirrty.

"And for me, I felt incredibly empowered and owning my body and expressing myself the way I wanted to and not fitting this weird label-driven, pop bubble manufacturer, robotic thing that I knew I wasn't.

"And so when that started for me, it was very interesting for me to hear other people's views on why I shouldn't be doing that, why I didn't have a right to my own voice on my own body."

The Candyman hitmaker - who shot to fame alongside Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake as part of The All-New Mickey Mouse Club in the early 1990s and initially released more bubblegum pop records like Genie In A Bottle and Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You) upon the launch of her pop career - admitted that she still has the outfit she wore in the Dirrty video, and actually had more fun by wearing it as often as she could amid the negative reception.

She said: "We definitely archived the look and God, I just hope they're still in good condition after all these years.

"But they're somewhere in the vault, yes.

"I have to say probably the more trouble I got in for wearing it, the more fun I had wearing it. The chaps were iconic. It was definitely a fun moment, and it still is fun to see people represent them for their Halloween costumes. I get so excited to see different people's interpretations of it."