Billie Eilish Calls Out Magazine For Outing Her During Red Carpet Interview: “I Like Boys, Girls Leave Me Alone”
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Singer-songwriter Billie Eilish is making sense of her unintentional coming out of the closet back in November. According to the “Bad Guy” hitmaker, she didn’t think she had to explicitly reveal her sexual orientation to the public.
Billie Eilish Thought Her Sexuality was Already “Obvious”
Even though Eilish doesn’t actively talk about it, she is not one to shy away from topics related to her seuxality. The singer recently attended Variety’s seventh annual Hitmakers brunch, Saturday at NYA West in Los Angeles.
There, the singer found herself confirming that she did come out during the magazine’s “Power of Women” issue in November. As per Eilish, it originally wasn’t her intention to reveal her physical attraction to women.
“I didn’t! But I kind of thought, wasn’t it obvious? I didn’t realize people didn’t know! I just don’t really believe in [coming out]. I’m just like, why can’t we just exist?” she said. “I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I just didn’t talk about it.”
In the November issue, Eilish shared her love for girls, stating that she has “deep connections” with women in her life.
“I’ve never really felt like I could relate to girls very well. I love them so much. I love them as people. I’m attracted to them as people, I’m attracted to them for real,” she said. “I’m physically attracted to them. But I’m also so intimidated by them and their beauty and their presence.”
Most recently, Eilish was romantically linked to Neighbourhood’s frontman, Jesse Rutherford. The “Happier Than Ever” performer also dated rapper Brandon Adams aka Q. Their romance was featured in the documentary Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry.
She Previously Reflected on Her Gender Identity
Previously, Eilish shared her feeling regarding her own femininity, confessing that she struggled identifying herself as a womanly person. This feeling had apparently been magnified by her growing up in the public eye.
“I’ve never felt like a woman, to be honest with you. I’ve never felt desirable, I’ve never felt feminine,” she said. “I have to convince myself that I’m, like, a pretty girl. I identify as ‘she/her’ and things like that, but I’ve never really felt like a girl.”
Until 2023, Eilish has not strongly implied her queerness. In 2021, the singer faced allegations of “queerbaiting” when she lied in bed with girls in her “Lost Cause” music video. Fans proceeded to criticize her when she shared the behind-the-scenes photos from the video shoot with the caption “i love girls.”
Hence, when Eilish saw Variety’s article, she took that as her official coming out of the closet story.
“I was like, ‘Oh I guess I came out today’,” she said. “OK cool. It’s exciting to me because I guess people didn’t know, but it’s cool that they know. I am for the girls.”
Following the event, Eilish shared an Instagram post, where she reflected on the event. Within the post, Eilish shared how she really felt on the topic.
“thanks variety for my award and for also outing me on a red carpet at 11 am instead of talking about anything else that matters i like boys and girls leave me alone about it please literally who cares stream ‘what was i made for’,” she wrote.
