Free to be who she is: Singer Anitta grew up in Brazil but that does not mean she modeled bikinis while sipping Caipirinhas on the beach of Rio de Janeiro when she was a teen
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Singer Anitta grew up in Brazil but that does not mean she modeled bikinis while sipping Caipirinhas on the beach of Rio de Janeiro when she was a teen.

Instead, the 30-year-old star, who was born Larissa de Macedo Machado, grew up far from the shore in the ghetto.

But now she has told Harper’s Bazaar’s June/July ’23 Freedom Issue that all that toughness shaped her to what she is today.

‘If you are born in a place where all you have access to is guns, crime, drugs, sex—that’s what you’re going to write about,’ shared the performing, who was seen shooting a music video last week.

‘We cannot sing about the beautiful paradise in Rio if we are not even getting close [enough] to see that.… I’m not saying, “Oh, it’s so good to commit a crime.” No. I’m just saying you gave zero opportunities for these people to choose other stuff.’

Free to be who she is: Singer Anitta grew up in Brazil but that does not mean she modeled bikinis while sipping Caipirinhas on the beach of Rio de Janeiro when she was a teen

Free to be who she is: Singer Anitta grew up in Brazil but that does not mean she modeled bikinis while sipping Caipirinhas on the beach of Rio de Janeiro when she was a teen

Free to be who she is: Singer Anitta grew up in Brazil but that does not mean she modeled bikinis while sipping Caipirinhas on the beach of Rio de Janeiro when she was a teen

Hard start: Instead, the 30-year-old star, who was born Larissa de Macedo Machado, grew up far from the shore in the ghetto

Hard start: Instead, the 30-year-old star, who was born Larissa de Macedo Machado, grew up far from the shore in the ghetto

Hard start: Instead, the 30-year-old star, who was born Larissa de Macedo Machado, grew up far from the shore in the ghetto

She has been called out for her brazen personality but she maintains it is all for her public image.

‘I dance, ass to the sky, and it sells more,’ she tells me. ‘People love to complain: “Oh, this person’s so vulgar.” But that’s what they like. Besides everything, I’m also a businesswoman. I’m an artist. I know how to get onstage and make everyone jump, make everyone do what I want. I know it sells.’

Anitta is really a character, an image that the star made up.

‘I was like, if I have this behavior, nobody will ever f**k with me. Before anyone [else], I go there: “Oh, I had sex. I did this. I did that.” The real me? I don’t have sex for months and I don’t care. But Anitta would never. She f**ks every day,’ she shared.

She grew up in the Brazilian favela Honório and never saw the glam coastline until she made it as a singer.

‘People would say it’s the ghetto here, it’s like the hood,’ she offered. 

‘I used to say, “When I’m old, I’m going to get rich. We’re going to have a pool. We’re all going to be at the pool.” And she got it. 

It makes her who she is: But now she has told Harper's Bazaar's June/July '23 Freedom Issue that all that toughness shaped her to what she is today

It makes her who she is: But now she has told Harper's Bazaar's June/July '23 Freedom Issue that all that toughness shaped her to what she is today

It makes her who she is: But now she has told Harper’s Bazaar’s June/July ’23 Freedom Issue that all that toughness shaped her to what she is today

Tough and fantastic: 'If you are born in a place where all you have access to is guns, crime, drugs, sex—that's what you're going to write about,' she shared

Tough and fantastic: 'If you are born in a place where all you have access to is guns, crime, drugs, sex—that's what you're going to write about,' she shared

Tough and fantastic: ‘If you are born in a place where all you have access to is guns, crime, drugs, sex—that’s what you’re going to write about,’ she shared

‘Everyone was like, okay. They didn’t want to disappoint me, but they knew that was not even close to being real.…But I was so sure. I could tell.’

On turning to her father’s religion, Candomblé, which is practiced widely among Afro-Brazilians and has been marginalized in the majority–Roman Catholic country: ‘People are very prejudiced,’ she says.

‘When it comes from the poor communities, people see it as a bad thing. When it comes from Black people, when it comes from Indians, when it comes from Asians, all the people who suffer racism, I think those religions suffer more.’

She insists she tells it like it is: ‘[People] don’t have the courage to say what they want,’ she explained.

‘They want to laugh and talk about the girl who said, “Oh, I learned to speak with boyfriends.” If you put that in a quote, a million clicks. If you put ‘Oh, she put different teachers in the dressing room so she could learn while she was getting glam,’ nobody’s going to f**king click on that.’

Not an easy life: 'We cannot sing about the beautiful paradise in Rio if we are not even getting close [enough] to see that.… I'm not saying, "Oh, it's so good to commit a crime." No. I'm just saying you gave zero opportunities for these people to choose other stuff,' she noted

Not an easy life: 'We cannot sing about the beautiful paradise in Rio if we are not even getting close [enough] to see that.… I'm not saying, "Oh, it's so good to commit a crime." No. I'm just saying you gave zero opportunities for these people to choose other stuff,' she noted

Not an easy life: ‘We cannot sing about the beautiful paradise in Rio if we are not even getting close [enough] to see that.… I’m not saying, “Oh, it’s so good to commit a crime.” No. I’m just saying you gave zero opportunities for these people to choose other stuff,’ she noted

Her appeal: She has been called out for her brazen personality but she maintains it is all for her public image. 'I dance, ass to the sky, and it sells more,' she tells me. 'People love to complain: "Oh, this person's so vulgar." But that's what they like. Besides everything, I'm also a businesswoman. I'm an artist

Her appeal: She has been called out for her brazen personality but she maintains it is all for her public image. 'I dance, ass to the sky, and it sells more,' she tells me. 'People love to complain: "Oh, this person's so vulgar." But that's what they like. Besides everything, I'm also a businesswoman. I'm an artist

Her appeal: She has been called out for her brazen personality but she maintains it is all for her public image. ‘I dance, ass to the sky, and it sells more,’ she tells me. ‘People love to complain: “Oh, this person’s so vulgar.” But that’s what they like. Besides everything, I’m also a businesswoman. I’m an artist

A marketing move: She added, 'I know how to get onstage and make everyone jump, make everyone do what I want. I know it sells.' Anitta is really a character, an image that the star made up. I was like, if I have this behavior, nobody will ever f**k with me'

A marketing move: She added, 'I know how to get onstage and make everyone jump, make everyone do what I want. I know it sells.' Anitta is really a character, an image that the star made up. I was like, if I have this behavior, nobody will ever f**k with me'

A marketing move: She added, ‘I know how to get onstage and make everyone jump, make everyone do what I want. I know it sells.’ Anitta is really a character, an image that the star made up. I was like, if I have this behavior, nobody will ever f**k with me’

She has also been called out for choosing to go public about a past sexual assault experience after a Brazilian journalist had begun alluding to it on Twitter.

‘I felt so mad that this guy felt that he knew something about me that could hurt me,’ she says, so instead she put it out there herself,’ said Anitta.

‘I don’t like when people try to threaten me or say, “Oh, I know this and that about you.” Oh really? Go there. Say it. If I don’t say it before you, I really don’t care.’ 

She also remembered how hearing other women speak about their own abuse made her feel less isolated and thought she could return the favor.

‘It was like when I created my character, Anitta, I just wanted this woman that nobody could f**k with. Because in the moment, you still blame yourself; you think that if you behaved differently, that wouldn’t happen to you.’

Brazen babe from Brazil: 'Before anyone [else], I go there: "Oh, I had sex. I did this. I did that." The real me? I don't have sex for months and I don't care. But Anitta would never. She f**ks every day,' she shared

Brazen babe from Brazil: 'Before anyone [else], I go there: "Oh, I had sex. I did this. I did that." The real me? I don't have sex for months and I don't care. But Anitta would never. She f**ks every day,' she shared

Brazen babe from Brazil: ‘Before anyone [else], I go there: “Oh, I had sex. I did this. I did that.” The real me? I don’t have sex for months and I don’t care. But Anitta would never. She f**ks every day,’ she shared

Background check: She grew up in the Brazilian favela Honório and never saw the glam coastline until she made it as a singer. 'People would say it's the ghetto here, it's like the hood,' she offered

Background check: She grew up in the Brazilian favela Honório and never saw the glam coastline until she made it as a singer. 'People would say it's the ghetto here, it's like the hood,' she offered

She was ambitious: 'I used to say, "When I'm old, I'm going to get rich. We're going to have a pool. We're all going to be at the pool." And she got it

She was ambitious: 'I used to say, "When I'm old, I'm going to get rich. We're going to have a pool. We're all going to be at the pool." And she got it

Background check: She grew up in the Brazilian favela Honório and never saw the glam coastline until she made it as a singer. ‘People would say it’s the ghetto here, it’s like the hood,’ she offered. ‘I used to say, “When I’m old, I’m going to get rich. We’re going to have a pool. We’re all going to be at the pool.” And she got it

Now she has gone out of her way to become familiar with political issues in order to speak with authority.

She reads up on the 2018 election of Brazil’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right extremist.

‘When we are born into the type of reality that I was in my country, we don’t get the motivation to understand politics,’ she explained. ‘So we vote not knowing s**t about it, not knowing whatever the f**k we are doing. And that’s what [politicians] want, because then it’s easier to play with us.’

And she talked about suffering from Epstein-Barr virus: ‘I couldn’t get up to the second floor of my house,’ she said. ‘I was so sick, and I saw how much I was not taking care of myself. 

And the star added that she was working too hard.

‘I was just working, working, working because it takes so much so much effort to do what I’m doing right now. There’s a reason why it’s been so many decades since a Brazilian person has done what I’m doing here now,’ she noted.

All dressed up: Anitta at the Tiffany & Co reopening of NYC Flagship store, The Landmark, in April in New York City

All dressed up: Anitta at the Tiffany & Co reopening of NYC Flagship store, The Landmark, in April in New York City

All dressed up: Anitta at the Tiffany & Co reopening of NYC Flagship store, The Landmark, in April in New York City

On marketing her most notorious product, an intimate cologne called Puzzy, in the United States. ‘It’s really good,’ she said, insisting it’s for not just sex but exercise too. ‘You remove the panties and it just smells so good until the end of the day. It’s not just because I’m selling it. I mean, I’m selling it because I got addicted.’

Samira Nasr, Editor in Chief, Harper’s Bazaar said, ‘This is our Freedom issue, and our cover star, the Brazilian pop star Anitta, is someone who has fought for it her entire life. 

‘After coming up in the favelas of Rio, Anitta—captured brilliantly by photographer Emmanuel Sanchez Monsalve—is now an international sensation.  But she speaks her mind and unapologetically brings the entirety of who she is to everything she does. 

‘She has gone on to create her own singular vision of success: one that gives her the choice to be exactly who she is.

‘Women like Anitta are showing us that we no longer need to conform to old norms about how to look or dress in order to be taken seriously, that you can own your own sexuality and also be an ambitious businesswoman—that there is room for a more complex, nuanced version of what it means to show up in the world as a woman.’

The interview was by Julianne Escobedo Shepherd with photographs by Emmanuel Sanchez Monsalve.

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