Beyoncé Didn’t Like How Her Body Was Portrayed In An Early Goldmember Poster

Foxxy Cleopatra was proud to be “a whole lotta woman,” and Beyoncé apparently wanted the Austin Powers in Goldmember posters to reflect that. In honor of the 2002 comedy’s 20th anniversary, Vulture published an oral history of Beyoncé’s turn as the Pam Grier-inspired FBI agent opposite Mike Myers’ titular international man of mystery, and makeup artist Kate Biscoe recalled the singer’s unexpected reaction to seeing herself on the promotional materials for her first major film.

“When we were shooting, someone brought her a poster that would be promoting the movie. He showed it to her, like, ‘Do you like it?’” the Oscar-winning makeup artist shared of the star, who was 20 years old when the movie premiered. “And she was kind of like, ‘Yeah.’ He goes, ‘What’s the matter?’ And she says, ‘You made me too skinny. It’s not me.’ Then she did this hourglass shape. And he said, ‘Okay, we’ll fix that.’”

Biscoe continued, “She walked away to go do the scene, and I looked at him and smiled, like, ‘Is that the first time that you’ve ever had an actress ask to make her body bigger?’ He was like, ‘Yes. It’s going to cost me thousands of dollars, but I am going to do it.’” (Reps for Beyoncé told People they have no comment on Biscoe’s account.)

As Goldmember producer John Lyons put it to Vulture, Beyoncé and her team, which, at the time, included father Matthew Knowles and mother Tina Knowles Lawson (who also reportedly pulled daughter Solange from playing a backup singer after hearing some suggestive lyrics), were “keenly aware of the expectations that both the music business and Hollywood frequently have for how young, beautiful women should look,” however. So the 28-time Grammy winner “put herself on a really tough physical regimen and diet” to play Foxxy. Lyons noted that the Knowles family was “smart about making those ideas work to their ends.”

In the two decades that followed, Beyoncé catapulted even higher in the stratosphere of superstardom, taking on several more film roles — including The Fighting Temptations, The Pink Panther, Dreamgirls, Cadillac Records, and Obsessed — all while raking in a record-breaking number of Grammys, as well as an Academy Award nomination. Next up for the multihyphenate is her new Renaissance album, dropping on July 29, which has already spawned another hit single, “Break My Soul.”

Proving that her understanding of the promo machine is still as strong as it was in the early 2000s, Beyoncé joined TikTok ahead of her seventh studio album’s release. Her first (and, so far, only) post on the social media platform on July 14 featured a compilation of users — including Cardi B — dancing and singing along to “Break My Soul,” now her 20th top 10 hit. “Seeing y’all release the wiggle made me so happy! Thank you so much for all the love for BREAK MY SOUL,” Beyoncé captioned the post for the 3.6 million followers she’s already amassed so far.