“I was thinner than ever and stronger than ever. But apart from that, I was extremely unhappy,” said the pop star.
Billie Eilish has warned about the dangers of extremely restrictive diets and reflected on her own experiences with body image and health.
“I didn’t realize how unhappy I was”
In an interview on NPR’s Fresh Air podcast, the singer opened up about the time she tried to control her weight – and how negatively it affected her emotional well-being. “A few years ago I was on a really intense kind of health journey and lost a lot of weight,” the 23-year-old explained. “I was thinner than ever and stronger than ever. But outside of that, I was extremely unhappy and unaware of how unhappy I was. It’s no fun living like that.”
Between self-hatred and acceptance
The artist had already spoken openly about her challenges with her own body image in the past. In 2019, she had shared her experience with a hip injury that triggered a depressive episode in her youth. “It put me in a hole,” she recalled to Rolling Stone. “I essentially felt like I deserved to be in pain.”
In 2023, Eilish once again reflected on the impact of this time to Vogue. She had the feeling that her body was “gaslighting” her, i.e. manipulating her. The self-hatred in her teenage years was primarily fueled by anger at her self-image. “I had to go through a process and learn that my body is a part of me. And that he doesn’t want to harm me,” said the musician.
In addition, the singer has spoken in interviews in the past about the difficulties of withstanding the external pressure of expectations. In 2021, she responded to reviews of a “Vogue” cover on which she presented a new look: revealing and figure-hugging.
Previously, the Californian had mostly worn loose clothing, which she explained as a protective mechanism against external evaluations. In an advertisement for Calvin Klein, she emphasized that no one has the right to judge another person’s body – because no one knows what’s under their clothes.