Billie Eilish Thinks It’s “Ridiculous” That People Judge What Someone’s Body Looks Like

"Like, why? Why do we care?"

Billie Eilish has said it before and she’ll say it again: She’s done with body shaming. Speaking with The Guardian, the “Your Power” singer opened up about the insecurities she faces on a daily basis surrounding her body image and how they impact her everyday life from performing to running errands in public. She describes the need to strive for perfection as a “loss of joy and freedom.”

If you’re always standing a certain way, walking in a certain way, and always have your hair just so… It’s such a loss to always try to always look good. It’s such a loss of joy and freedom in your body, she said in her July 31st interview.

Eilish explained she’s had to seriously teach herself how to point out what’s real versus fake or edited on social media because the pressure to look perfect 24/7 takes a toll not only on her mental health but the way she views her body as well.

“I see people online, looking like I’ve never looked and immediately I am like, oh my God, how do they look like that? I know the ins and outs of this industry, and what people actually use in photos, and I actually know what looks real can be fake,” she continued. “Yet I still see it and go, oh God, that makes me feel really bad.” Eilish explicitly points out, “I’m very happy with my life….I’m obviously not happy with my body.”

These societal standards of what a woman’s body “should look like” have spilled into how she dresses and mentally prepares herself for any onstage performance. Eilish describes it as having to “disassociate” herself from “the ideas I have of my body.”

“Because I wear clothes that are bigger and easier to move in without showing everything – they can be really unflattering,” she began. “In pictures, they look like I don’t even know what. I just completely separate the two. Because I have such a terrible relationship with my body, like you would not believe, so I just have to disassociate.”

Some have a preconceived idea of what Eilish’s body looks like underneath the loose-fitting clothes so when she is spotted wearing a formfitting top or pair of shorts, she’s immediately body shamed and questioned about her body. And I think we can all agree, that is never the answer, ever.

“Then you get a paparazzi picture taken when you were running to the door and had just put anything on, and didn’t know the picture’s being taken, and you just look how you look, and everyone’s like, ‘Fat!'” the singer-songwriter explained.

At the end of the day, Eilish says we only really need our bodies “to eat and walk around and poop.” Plus, to survive, she added. “It’s ridiculous that anybody even cares about bodies at all. Like, why? Why do we care? You know, when you really think about it?”

Emily Weaver
Emily is a NYC-based freelance entertainment and lifestyle writer — though, she’ll never pass up the opportunity to talk about women’s health and sports (she thrives during the Olympics). Read more
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