The youngest ever Glastonbury headliner gets real.
Singer Billie Eilish made history this weekend as the youngest ever artist to headline the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury.
Trigger warning: discusses body image issues and eating disorders
Taking to the stage on Friday night, she wowed fans worldwide - and yet in a reflective interview with The Sunday Times yesterday, she opened up about her "truly terrible" and "horrible" relationship with her body.
Sharing that she's "hated" her body since a young age, she also opened up about how she still struggles, admitting to being "nowhere good" with her body image now.
Explaining that she is grateful to her body for carrying her around the world, she shares that she often feels "ugly."
"My relationship with my body has been a truly horrible, terrible thing since I was 11," she opened up.
Billie continued: " I love that my body is mine and that it’s with me everywhere I go. I kind of think of my body as my friend. My ugly friend! It’s complicated. But what are you gonna do?"
"I honestly don’t feel desired, ever. I do have this worry that I felt so undesirable that I may have occasionally tried too hard to be desirable. It makes me sad to think about."
When asked why she felt she struggled with negative body image, she said that isolation during the numerous Covid-19 lockdowns didn't help the situation, making her spiral and question who she was.
"I remember thinking, I need to figure out who I am right now," she went on.
She admitted that she struggled after launching into the spotlight in 2015 with her award-winning single, Ocean Eyes, and subsequently being typecast as a certain type of individual.
"Being known for the whole start of your career for one thing — "she wears baggy clothes and she sings like this" — it was driving me mad," she explains.
She goes on to detail how she struggles with her mental health so much, even turning to self-harm "because of [her] body."
She decided to change up her look, donning a pink corset on the cover of British Vogue and a custom-made Gucci gown at this year's Met Gala.
But she still felt attacked and reflects that she feels like the press will always have a negative opinion, however she looks.
"No matter what you do, it's wrong and right," the singer 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 whore". I’m a slut 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? It’s a crazy world for women."
Hoping that the singer makes a speedy recovery and has the support she needs around her.
If you have been affected by the themes in this article, Beat are the UK’s leading eating disorder charity, open 365 days a year. Call on 0808 801 0677 or beateatingdisorders.org.uk.
