Billie Eilish Confesses: ‘I Didn’t Want My Body to Be Part of My Outfit’ Amid Struggles with Body Image

Billie Eilish has opened up about her struggles with body image in a candid conversation with Complex, revealing how her body confidence issues have shaped her style choices over the years. The 22-year-old Grammy-winning singer shared that her relationship with her body started to change at a young age.

“What’s interesting is that when I was a little girl, I loved big dresses,” Billie said. “All I wore was fairy dresses and skirts. I never wore pants or shorts when I was a little kid.” But as she got older, her body image began to shift.

At 11, Billie became obsessed with the brand Brandy Melville, which only sold clothes in one size. “I was chubbier and I was obsessed with these clothes, but I’d buy a shirt and it wouldn’t fit me,” she recalled. This is when her struggles with body image began to surface. “I wasn’t slim,” she added, noting that she was also involved in ballet, which added to her feelings of inadequacy, told E! Online.

Billie explained that her desire to keep her body separate from her fashion choices grew stronger over time. “I didn’t want my body to be part of my outfit,” she said. “I wanted my outfit to be my outfit, and my body happens to be inside it.”

Reflecting on how she dealt with the public’s scrutiny of her appearance, Billie admitted that her 2021 album Happier Than Ever was partly a response to critics who claimed that she “doesn’t look like a girl.”

“So of course, classic me, I had to go with the completely extreme version of it,” she said, describing how she made an intentional shift in her style. “I couldn’t just, like, wear a skirt once. I had to completely reverse everything and be this girly girl for a second and have these pink nails, blonde hair, skirts, dresses,” she explained.

Billie’s decision to embrace a more traditionally feminine look in her Happier Than Ever era was an act of defiance, a way of asserting control over her image. “I was like, ‘I can do whatever I want. And then I can go back to what I was doing before, and you guys can eat it.’”

Her honesty about her body image struggles resonates with many who have faced similar challenges, and it highlights her evolving journey of self-expression and empowerment.