Billie Eilish has spoken frankly about her relationship with her body, and how she has felt in the past that it was “gaslighting” her.
In an interview with Vogue US, the singer described her experiences of being diagnosed with hypermobility – a syndrome where you have very flexible joints, which can cause you pain – and the difficult relationship she then navigated with her body, as she had to give up her dreams of being a dancer at the age of 13 due to a series of lower body injuries.
“I felt like my body was gaslighting me for years,” she said, going on to describe her journey of self-acceptance. “I had to go through a process of being like, ‘My body is actually me. And it’s not out to get me.’”
She also explained how her dreams shifted from dancing to singing after her medical issues and injuries changed her focus.
“I got injured right after we made Ocean Eyes” Billie Eilish said. The uploading of her infamous, beautiful first track to SoundCloud launched her career: “So, music kind of replaced dancing”.
The singer also opened up about a cause close to her heart – fighting to save the environment. She talked about her attempts to convey her campaigning to her fans without telling them what to do.
“I’m still not shoving information down people’s throats,” she says. “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.”
Completely candid about the flaws in her own environmental efforts, Eilish was clear that she isn’t perfect either.
“I shouldn’t be making any products. I shouldn’t be selling anything,” she said. “It’s just more sh*t 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.”
She added: “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 f*ck up about it.”