Taking a stand! Billie Eilish has become a driving force in the body positivity movement — and she isn’t about to change her views any time soon.
The five-time Grammy winner is known for dressing in oversized clothing, which has brought her an even amount of support and hate throughout her whirlwind rise to the top of the charts. In May 2019, Eilish opened up about her decision to keep her body out of the public eye. “Nobody can have an opinion because they haven’t seen what’s underneath,” she explained in an interview for a Calvin Klein ad. “Nobody can be like, ‘she’s slim-thick,’ ‘she’s not slim-thick,’ ‘she’s got a flat ass,’ ‘she’s got a fat ass.’ No one can say any of that because they don’t know.”
Eilish’s strong views have often made headlines, but the “No Time to Die” singer admitted to feeling misunderstood by the media. “Everyone sees it as, ‘She’s saying no to being sexualized,’ and, ‘She’s saying no to being the stereotypical female,” she told Pharrell Williams in an August 2019 conversation for V magazine, explaining that her choices have nothing to do with the way other women want to dress. “I don’t like that there’s this weird new world of supporting me by shaming people that [may not] want to [dress like me].”
While the “Bury a Friend” songstress feels more comfortable with the protection that her signature look brings her right now, she reserved the right to change her tune during an April 2020 interview with Dazed magazine. After sharing a photo of herself in a bathing suit while on vacation, Eilish acknowledged the double standard that she’s faced because of her stance on body image.
“There were comments like, ‘I don’t like her anymore because as soon as she turns 18 she’s a whore.’ Like, dude. I can’t win,” she said at the time. “If I wore a dress to something, I would be hated for it. People would be like, ‘You’ve changed, how dare you do what you’ve always rebelled against?’ I’m like, ‘I’m not rebelling against anything, really.’ … If there’s a day when I’m like, ‘You know what, I feel comfortable with my belly right now and I wanna show my belly,’ I should be allowed to do that.”
Scroll down to revisit more of Eilish’s most empowering quotes about self-image.