Billie Eilish gets real about her "truly horrible" body image issues

The youngest ever Glastonbury headliner gets real.

Glastonbury Festival 2022 - Day Three
(Image credit: Redferns)

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."

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 13: Billie Eilish attends The 2021 Met Gala Celebrating In America: A Lexicon Of Fashion at Metropolitan Museum of Art on September 13, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue )

Billie at the 2022 Met Gala in custom Gucci
(Image credit: Getty Images for The Met Museum/)

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.

Ally Head
Senior Health, Sustainability and Relationships Editor

Ally Head is Marie Claire UK's Senior Health, Sustainability, and Relationships Editor, nine-time marathoner, and Boston Qualifying runner. Day-to-day, she works across site strategy, features, and e-commerce, reporting on the latest health updates, writing the must-read health and wellness content, and rounding up the genuinely sustainable and squat-proof gym leggings worth *adding to basket*. She's won a BSME for her sustainability work, regularly hosts panels and presents for events like the Sustainability Awards, and saw nine million total impressions on the January 2023 Wellness Issue she oversaw. Follow Ally on Instagram for more or get in touch.