Billie Eilish Gets Real About Her Body ‘Gaslighting’ Her For Years And Why She Doesn’t Try To ‘Be In People’s Faces’ With Her Activism

As Billie Eilish turned 21 just days before the holiday season kicked off, the singer has accomplished more before hitting America’s legal drinking age than most could dream in a lifetime. The celebrity just toured the world, including becoming the youngest performer to headline Coachella along with providing the latest James Bond theme and earning an Oscar for it. As fans await what will be in store for the artist this year, the singer spoke to her relationship with her physical health and environmental activism. 

During Billie Eilish’s latest interview, where she covered January’s Vogue, the singer spoke to a longtime “anger” toward her body following a growth plate injury in her hip that led her to pivot away from her passion of dancing. She shared that the injury occured right after her breakout single “Ocean Eyes” put her on the map and effectively “kind of replaced dancing.” In her words:

Going through my teenage years of hating myself and all that stupid shit. a lot of it came from my anger toward my body, and how mad I was at how much pain it’s caused me, and how much I’ve lost because of things that happened to it.

Over the years, Eilish has faced numerous injuries before recently finding out she has a condition called “hypermobility.” Through that awareness, the singer and her family learned that not everything they were doing to alleviate pain was helping her. Eilish said this: 

I felt like my body was gaslighting me for years. I had to go through a process of being like, My body is actually me. And it’s not out to get me.

Over the years, Eilish has been open with her relationship with her body image, which can certainly be connected to how one feels in their own skin. The singer previously said she has “terrible” body image and having the world’s eyes on her certainly hasn’t helped. Eilish was named one of the most fashionable celebrities of 2022, moving away from her oversized fashion days more now than ever. 

Like many celebrities, Eilish has put her name on her own clothing, namely in collaboration with Nike. Her latest shoe with the iconic sneaker brand is made of recycled materials. The singer has been vocal about her passion for environmental activism, but admitted she has a complicated relationship with it:

I don’t want to be parading around like, Look at me! I’m making a difference. I just want to be making the difference and shutting the fuck up about it. I shouldn’t be making any products. I shouldn’t be selling anything. It’s just more shit to go into the landfill one day. I know that. But no one’s going to stop wearing clothes. No one’s going to stop making stuff. So I just do it in the best way I possibly can.

Many celebrities like Taylor Swift and Kylie Jenner were at the center of a private jet controversy last year that revealed they were major offenders in CO2 emissions. Billie Eilish on the other hand refuses to fly private and has found “unusual workarounds for travel, per Vogue. Eilish’s decisions reportedly led to 8.8 million of gallons of water saved and 15,000-plus tonnes of CO2 neutralised by going this route. Eilish also said this about how she sees her activism:

I’ve spent all of my effort trying not to be in people’s faces about it. Because people don’t respond well to that. It makes the causes that you believe in look bad, because you’re, like, annoying the shit out of everybody. I’m still not shoving information down people’s throats. I’m more like, I’m not going to tell you what to do. I’m just going to tell you why I do this. But you’re also a bad person if you don’t do it.

You can see Billie Eilish on the big screen with her concert film Billie EIlish: Live at the O2 playing in theaters one night only on January 27 and stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more 2023 movie releases

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Sarah El-Mahmoud
Staff Writer

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.