Billie Eilish on her relationship with body image and style – The Cut

Billie Eilish loves her body — sort of. In a new interview with the Sunday time, the singer said, “I love that my body is mine and that it is with me wherever I go.” But that also doesn’t mean she doesn’t constantly struggle with it. “I kind of consider my body my friend,” she told reporter Mason Poole. “My naughty friend!”

The 20-year-old singer added that her relationship with her body “has been a really horrible, terrible thing since I was 11”. This isn’t the first time Eilish has opened up about her body issues; last year she called it the “greatest insecurity” in vogue.

For years, she wore a strict uniform of loose, oversized clothes. The look won her praise from fans who felt her refusal to reveal her body was a reflection of body positivity. Then in 2019, Eilish revealed it was actually a self-preservation tactic, noting that her baggy clothes kept her body hidden from criticism. “No one can have an opinion because they haven’t seen what’s underneath,” she said in an interview with She. But even that was not entirely effective. “No matter what you do, it’s right and wrong,” she told the Sunday time. “Wearing baggy clothes, no one is attracted to me, I feel incredibly nasty and not sexy and not beautiful, and people shame you for not being feminine enough.”

Eilish eventually evolved her style the other way – dyeing her hair blonde, wearing a corset on the cover of vogue, and attend the Met Gala 2021 in a dream ball gown. At the time, she said vogue that her pin-up look was about “taking that power back, showing it and not taking advantage of it”. But talking with the Sunday time, she seemed to have a different perspective, noting that her gaze at the time “wasn’t me” and admitting that she was just “grabbing” a new identity. “I have this worry of feeling so unwanted that maybe I’ve tried too hard to be desirable at times,” she said, without explicitly naming the vogue pull. “It makes me sad to think about it.”

Revealing her body to the world also came with a whole new kind of criticism. “Then you wear something more revealing and they’re like, ‘You’re such a big cow whore,'” Eilish said. “I’m a slut and I’m a saleswoman and I’m like all the other celebrities who sell their bodies, and whoa! What the fuck do you want?

Luckily, Eilish seems to have turned a corner with her style and body image. Although he said Sunday time that her relationship with her body was “nowhere good”, she added that she was much more confident in what she wears. “Over the past two months, I feel a lot more grounded in who I am,” she said. “I feel different now, like I’m desirable. I feel that I am capable of being as feminine as I wish and as masculine as I wish. Amen to that.

Billie Eilish loves her body — sort of. In a new interview with the Sunday time, the singer said, “I love that my body is mine and that it is with me wherever I go.” But that also doesn’t mean she doesn’t constantly struggle with it. “I kind of consider my body my friend,” she told reporter Mason Poole. “My naughty friend!”

The 20-year-old singer added that her relationship with her body “has been a really horrible, terrible thing since I was 11”. This isn’t the first time Eilish has opened up about her body issues; last year she called it the “greatest insecurity” in vogue.

For years, she wore a strict uniform of loose, oversized clothes. The look won her praise from fans who felt her refusal to reveal her body was a reflection of body positivity. Then in 2019, Eilish revealed it was actually a self-preservation tactic, noting that her baggy clothes kept her body hidden from criticism. “No one can have an opinion because they haven’t seen what’s underneath,” she said in an interview with She. But even that was not entirely effective. “No matter what you do, it’s right and wrong,” she told the Sunday time. “Wearing baggy clothes, no one is attracted to me, I feel incredibly nasty and not sexy and not beautiful, and people shame you for not being feminine enough.”

Eilish eventually evolved her style the other way – dyeing her hair blonde, wearing a corset on the cover of vogue, and attend the Met Gala 2021 in a dream ball gown. At the time, she said vogue that her pin-up look was about “taking that power back, showing it and not taking advantage of it”. But talking with the Sunday time, she seemed to have a different perspective, noting that her gaze at the time “wasn’t me” and admitting that she was just “grabbing” a new identity. “I have this worry of feeling so unwanted that maybe I’ve tried too hard to be desirable at times,” she said, without explicitly naming the vogue pull. “It makes me sad to think about it.”

Revealing her body to the world also came with a whole new kind of criticism. “Then you wear something more revealing and they’re like, ‘You’re such a big cow whore,'” Eilish said. “I’m a slut and I’m a saleswoman and I’m like all the other celebrities who sell their bodies, and whoa! What the fuck do you want?

Luckily, Eilish seems to have turned a corner with her style and body image. Although he said Sunday time that her relationship with her body was “nowhere good”, she added that she was much more confident in what she wears. “Over the past two months, I feel a lot more grounded in who I am,” she said. “I feel different now, like I’m desirable. I feel that I am capable of being as feminine as I wish and as masculine as I wish. Amen to that.