Billie Eilish Details Body Image Struggles: ‘I’m Obviously Not Happy With My Body, But Who Is?’
Billie Eilish isn't always happy with her body.
In an interview with The Guardian published Saturday (July 31), the "my future" singer spoke candidly about body image and the impact that social media has had on her self-esteem, as well as how she manages to remain confident while performing.
"I see people online, looking like I’ve never looked,” she confessed. "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 real can be fake. Yet I still see it and go, 'Oh God, that makes me feel really bad.'"
Despite the intrusive negative thoughts she occasionally has, Eilish shared that she has an overall positive outlook on body acceptance. "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?"
The pop star also revealed how performing concerts requires a different type of mindset.
"When I’m on stage, I have to disassociate from the ideas I have of my body,” she shared. “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."
Eilish noted that when she dresses casually to run simple errands, she never knows if the paparazzi will be there. Just one set of photos can cause an enormous amount of online scrutiny: "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!’”
Eilish's new album, Happier Than Ever, even features music about body image, including the song, "Overheated." The singer noted that the track "applies to all the people who promote unattainable body standards."
“It’s completely fine to get work done – do this, do that, do what makes you feel happy," she expressed. "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.”