Billie Eilish Opens up About Her Struggles With Body Image in a New Interview
Recently, Billie Eilish opened up about her battles with body image. The “Your Power” singer, 19, shared how social media negatively affects her and promotes a false standard of beauty.
“I see people online, looking like I’ve never looked,” she said in an interview with The Guardian. “And immediately I am like, ‘oh my God, how do they look like that?’ I know the ins and outs of this industry and what people actually use in photos, and I actually know what looks really can be fake. Yet I still see it and go, oh God, that makes me feel really bad. And I mean, I’m very confident in who I am, and I’m very happy with my life. I’m obviously not happy with my body, but who is?”
Billie Eilish. Let’s all wish her well so she can forget about body image and concentrate on her fabulous music.
— Tom Lloyd (@mtlloyd) August 3, 2021
I live for Billie Eilish because she talks about her body image issues in such an authentic way.
— emo burrito (@Julia__Garrett) August 1, 2021
The singer’s relationship with her body affects her to the point where she needs to “disassociate” herself from her body. It explains why Eilish prefers wearing baggy clothes, especially on stage.
“When I’m on stage, I have to disassociate from the ideas I have of my body. Especially because I wear clothes that are bigger and easier to move in without showing everything – they can be really unflattering. In pictures, they look like I don’t even know what. I just completely separate the two. Because I have such a terrible relationship with my body like you would not believe, so I just have to disassociate. Then you get a paparazzi picture taken when you were running to the door and had just put anything on, and didn’t know the picture’s being taken, and you just look how you look, and everyone’s like, ‘Fat!’”
In May, Eilish did a photoshoot where she wore tight clothes, breaking away from her normal style. She did those to show people how she’s confident in her own skin and wanting to try something different. It doesn’t mean she doesn’t have moments of insecurity. Eilish talks about society’s standard of beauty in her songs “Overheated” and “Not My Responsibility” on her recent album, Happier Than Ever.
“It’s completely fine to get work done – do this, do that, do what makes you feel happy,” she said. “It’s just when you deny it and say, ‘Oh, I got this all on my own, and if you just tried harder, you could get it.’ That makes me literally furious. It is so bad for young women – and boys, too – to see that.”
This is a PSA to listen to “Not My Responsibility” when you can. A great spoken word song from Billie Eilish’s new album about body image and body shaming.
— Lucas Jay (@smol_sasquatch) July 30, 2021
Thank you and have a good day.
Fans can stream her album Happier Than Ever on Spotify and watch Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles on September 3, 2021, on Disney+.
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