Billie Eilish has opened up about her experience with fame as a woman and the kind of criticism she received for the way she dressed.
The singer, 20, said in an interview ahead of her headline appearance at Glastonbury 2022 that “no matter what you do, it’s wrong and right”.
When she first rose to fame, Eilish became known for wearing oversized street style clothing. In a 2019 advert for Calvin Klein, she said she did so because “nobody can have an opinion because they haven’t seen what’s underneath”.
Then in June 2021, the Happier Than Ever star shocked fans when she appeared on the cover of British Vogue wearing corsets and lingerie for a pin-up style photoshoot.
Although the cover photo became the fastest Instagram post to reach a million likes – amassing the responses in just six minutes – Eilish previously revealed she “lost 100,000 followers… because of the boobs”.
In an interview with The Timespublished on Tuesday, Eilish said: “Wearing baggy clothes, nobody is attracted to me, I feel incredibly unlovable and unsexy and not beautiful, and people shame you for not being feminine enough.
“Then you wear something more revealing and they’re like, you’re such a fat cow w****. I’m a sl** and I’m a sell-out and I’m just like every other celebrity selling their bodies, and woah! What the f*** do you want?”
She added: “It’s a crazy world for women and women in the public eye.”
After the cover shoot, Eilish slammed the Daily Mail after it published an article with a headline that said: “Proof that money can make you change your values and ‘sell out’: Billie Eilish shocks fans by swapping baggy clothes for lingerie in Vogue – despite years of vowing to ‘hide her body’.”
She posted an edited image of the headline, created by Jeremy Clarkson’s daughter Emily, that replaced the headline with: “Proof that women can change their minds and reclaim autonomy over their own bodies. Billie Eilish shocks fans by swapping baggy clothes for linger in Vogue – despite years of being an actual child.”
In the British Vogue interview, the singer said: “My thing is that I can do whatever I want… Suddenly you’re a hypocrite if you want to show your skin, and you’re easy and you’re a sl** and you’re a w****.
“If I am, then I’m proud. Me and all the girls are hoes, and f*** it, y’know? Let’s turn it around and be empowered in that. Showing your body and showing your skin – or not – should not take any respect away from you.”
