Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas were honored this weekend at the Variety Hitmakers Brunch with the Film Song of the Year Award for their contribution to the Barbie soundtrack. However, it wasn’t the single “What Was I Made For?” that the outlet wanted to talk about on the red carpet, as the artist was asked about coming out in her recent interview with Variety. Eilish later posted a scathing caption to social media about being outed on the red carpet, and many of her fans had the same reaction.
At the December 2 event, Variety asked Billie Eilish about her comments in the magazine’s November cover story, in which she discussed her own femininity and said she was “attracted to” girls. The “Bad Guy” singer politely responded that she hadn’t intended to come out to the magazine and asked, “Why can’t we just exist?,” and her comments on Instagram that followed suggested that she’d felt blindsided by the line of questioning. Alongside a photo of her pants pulled down around her knees, Eilish wrote:
thanks variety for my award and for also outing me on a red carpet at 11 am instead of talking about anything else that matters i like boys and girls leave me alone about it please literally who cares stream ‘what was i made for’
Billie Eilish’s fans immediately took to the comments section with support for the artist, with a lot of them calling her “so real” for the feelings expressed in the caption. They wrote:
- Ate them up with that caption – 1999diiana
- CAPTIONNN ATEEE MOTHER STANDING ON BIDNESSSSS – l0vee.n
- LMAOOOO real as fuck – uptown.stylingstar
- captions so real. preach – ocean_garcy
- Real – Amybeth McNulty
- sooooo real 😭 – beatriz_vieira001
- oof 😭 real though – notjesii
- NOT THE CAPTION AHAHAHA – kailamargolis
Billie Eilish expressed both nervousness and excitement when she talked about the interview on the Variety Hitmakers Brunch red carpet. Video from her arrival shows Variety contributor Tiana DeNicola asking if she meant to come out in the story, to which Eilish replied:
No I didn’t. But I kind of thought, ‘Wasn’t it obvious?’ I didn’t realize people didn’t know. I just don’t really believe in it. I’m just like, ‘Why can’t we just exist?’ I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I just didn’t talk about it. Whoops. But I saw the article, and I was like, ‘Oh I guess I came out today. OK cool.' It’s exciting to me because I guess people didn’t know, so it’s cool that they know, but ooh, I’m nervous talking about it. I’m nervous talking about it, but no, I am for the girls.
In the Variety cover story in question, Billie Eilish said trolls can “suck my ass” as she discussed a number of issues regarding women, including sexualization, femininity, identity and the scrutiny she has faced as a young woman in the music industry. In reference to how she relates to other women, Eilish said:
I’ve never really felt like I could relate to girls very well. I love them so much. I love them as people. I’m attracted to them as people. I’m attracted to them for real. I have deep connections with women in my life, the friends in my life, the family in my life. I’m physically attracted to them. But I’m also so intimidated by them and their beauty and their presence.
In addition to her track “What Was I Made For?” on the Barbie soundtrack, Billie Eilish made her acting debut this year in the comedy horror series Swarm, which you can check out with an Amazon Prime subscription.
