Billie Eilish has opened up concerning the challenges of being a girl within the public eye, saying she has “by no means actually felt very stunning”.
The singer was answering a collection of questions from excessive profile figures for a brand new characteristic in Vogue, together with Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, Charli XCX and Greta Gerwig.
One query particularly from Nicki Minaj touched Eilish and prompted her to present a really private reflection on her relationship together with her look as a profitable younger lady.
“This can be an odd query, however you appear to be a bit uncomfortable with how stunning you’re at occasions,” Minaj started. “I may very well be fallacious. Many ladies from all walks of life have felt that their work was overshadowed by their magnificence or their bodily attributes. Was there ever a time in your profession, or earlier than you made it, while you wished folks couldn’t see you and that they may solely hear the music, and actually get an opportunity to only hearken to the written phrases?”
Eilish replied: “Nicki, this query made me tear up somewhat. Nicely… such as you mentioned at the start of that query, I’ve by no means actually felt very stunning or seen myself in that method, so I undoubtedly by no means struggled with the concept that it will overshadow something, since I didn’t even actually see it myself.”
“I’ve needed to actually persuade myself that I’m stunning,” she added. “Being a girl is difficult.”
Throughout the interview, Eilish revealed to Michaela Coel that “there have been many durations of doubt and concern and feeling a lot strain” because of wanting her profession and id to morph over time, whereas she instructed Ariana Grande that “issues that make me really feel activated and stimulated and alive” are what make her the happiest.
Eilish has been outspoken many occasions concerning the pressures of physique picture for ladies within the present panorama. In January, she warned followers of the hazards of utmost weight-reduction plan, reflecting on a interval “a few years again” when she “misplaced loads weight” and was “extraordinarily sad and unaware of how sad I used to be”.
In 2019, she shared {that a} hip harm she suffered had resulted in her struggling a bout of despair as a younger teen.
“It despatched me down a gap,” she remembered on the time. “I went via an entire self-harming part – we don’t have to enter it. However the gist of it was, I felt like I deserved to be in ache.”
In 2023, she additional mirrored on how she felt her physique had been “gaslighting her” following the harm.
“Going via my teenage years of hating myself and all that silly shit,” she mentioned, “plenty of it got here from my anger towards my physique, and the way mad I used to be at how a lot ache it’s triggered me, and the way a lot I’ve misplaced due to issues that occurred to it.”
Eilish continued: “I felt like my physique was gaslighting me for years. I needed to undergo a technique of being like, my physique is definitely me. And it’s not out to get me.”
In 2021, she opened up once more about self-image in an interview with The Guardian, saying: “Since I used to be a child, my dad and I’ve at all times talked a couple of sure sort of one who’s so insecure, or hyperaware and self-conscious, that they by no means transfer in a bizarre method, or make a bizarre face, as a result of they at all times wish to look good.”
“I’ve seen that, and it makes me so unhappy. In the event you’re at all times standing a sure method, strolling in a sure method, and at all times have your hair simply so… It’s such a loss to at all times attempt to at all times look good. It’s such a lack of pleasure and freedom in your physique.”
In a dialogue about her experiences with physique dysmorphia in 2024, Eillish shared that “self-pleasure” has helped her really feel “empowered and cozy”.
“TMI, however self-pleasure is a gigantic, huge a part of my life, and an enormous, big assist for me,” she started. “Folks needs to be jerking it, man. I can’t stress it sufficient, as any individual with excessive physique points and dysmorphia that I’ve had my total life.”
On Saturday (April 12), Eilish joined Charli XCX throughout her Coachella 2025 set for a rendition of their collaboration ‘Guess’, for which they have been nominated for a Grammy for Finest Pop Duo/Group Efficiency.