Billie Eilish Comes Out As Queer, Was Surprised That People Didn’t Know

Billie Eilish has reacted to speculation about her sexuality after her interview with Variety last month. The singer had opened up about being attracted to women and even though she uses ‘she/her’ as her pronoun, she could never really relate to women. The 21-year-old recently attended Variety‘s Hitmakers event where a reporter asked her on the red carpet if she meant to “come out” during her interview. Billie said that she didn’t intend to as she thought ‘it was obvious‘.

In fact, she was surprised that people didn’t already know about her sexuality. Billie Eilish has accused Variety magazine of “outing” her on the red carpet and focusing on the topic of her sexuality “rather than anything else that matters”, after attending the magazine’s Hitmakers event on Saturday, 2 December. The ‘Bad Guy’ singer admitted she was confused over the reaction to her statement from an interview in the magazine, in which she said that she was “attracted to” women.

Also Read: Netflix’s Escaping Twin Flames: How An Influencer-led Cult Targeted The Lonely

Following the magazine’s last month’s issue, Eilish called out Variety in an Instagram post. She thanked the magazine for honouring her with an award but also expressed her dissatisfaction over “outing” her on the “red carpet.” The ‘You Should See Me in a Crown’ singer posted a series of images and footage from the event.

Her caption read, “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’.”

The Red Carpet Interview

In a cover interview released by the magazine in November 2023, called the Variety Power of Women Series, the US pop star made a remark where she addressed her struggles in relation to women. Despite loving and being attracted to them while being a being girl’s girl, she said, “I never 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” Billie said.

Billie further added, “I have deep connections with women in my life, the friends in my life, the family in my life. I’m physically attracted to them. But I’m also so intimidated by them and their beauty and their presence.” She further opened up and said that she’s never felt desirable or feminine. She has to convince herself that she is a pretty girl.

These quotes resulted in headlines that assumed Eilish had confirmed that she was attracted to women, despite it not being made clear what exactly she was being asked or if she was simply making a general comment. Billie was then approached about her comments on the red carpet during Variety’s Hitmakers event. A reporter asked if she meant to “come out.”

Variety put up footage of the interview where Eilish is seen replying, “No, I didn’t, but I kinda thought… wasn’t it obvious? I just didn’t realise people didn’t know.” The reporter then said that we need to get to a point where Billie doesn’t even have to ‘come out.’ To which the singer added that she doesn’t believe in the concept of coming out: “… why can’t we just exist? I’ve been doing this for a long time and I just didn’t talk about… whoops.”

The singer said, “I saw all the articles [and] was like, ‘Oh, I guess I came out today!… ok cool.’ But it’s exciting to me because I guess people didn’t know, so it’s cool that they know. But ooh I’m nervous talking about it, I’m nervous talking about it! But no, I am for the girls.” Billie Eilish’s sexuality seems to constantly get talked about. Last year she told Elle, “I love girls,” before adding, “Like, oh yeah, [my sexuality is] everyone else’s business, right? No. Where’s that energy with men?“

Reactions To Billie’s Statement

After the article was released, Billie’s sexuality became a topic to speculate over on social media, though the singer has not used any official label yet. Billie had mentioned in her Variety interview that she has faced a great deal of scrutiny surrounding topics like her sexuality and dating history, which has been ‘upsetting’ for her. She added, “Being a woman is just such a war, forever. Especially being a young woman in the public eye. It’s really unfair.”

Losing Followers

Following her “coming out” as a queer, the Grammy Award-winning singer lost over 100,000 followers on her Instagram account. She reportedly lost 117,750 followers in the last 30 days, with the majority unfollowing her on December 3, 2023. Eilish lost 40,428 Instagram followers the day after her red carpet interview 

The singer was last linked to Jesse Rutherford of the band The Neighbourhood in October 2022. After eight months of dating, a 2023 report by People confirmed that the two had split in May, but noted they ‘remain good friends’. Social media can be very overbearing, especially on celebrities taking their personal lives. Live and let live!