At the age of 17, Billie Eilish has taken made a vivid impression in the world of pop music. In fact, she is the first youngest woman ever to have a #1 album in the United Kingdom, and the first artist born in the 2000s to have a #1 album in the United States. However, Eilish’s quick rise to stardom has taken a toll on her mental health.
She has been a great performer for most of her life. At the age of 12, she joined a competitive dance team and had some sort of anticipatory anxiety back then.
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, the pop singer said, “That was probably when I was the most insecure. I wasn’t as confident. I couldn’t speak and just be normal. When I think about it or see pictures of me then, I was so not okay with who I was.”
She said she was uncomfortable with tight-fitting clothes that she had to wear during dance rehearsals and performances. Eilish explained, “I was always worried about my appearance. That was the peak of my body dysmorphia. I couldn’t look in the mirror at all.”
Eilish had to quit dancing at the age of 13 due to a hip injury. She said, “I think that’s when the depression started. It sent me down a hole. I went through a whole self-harming phase – we don’t have to go into it. But the gist of it was – I felt like I deserved to be in pain.”
As she turned 14 and released a few of her first hit songs, things got better. However, her anxiety got doubled when she was scheduled to go on tour for her album “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?”
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Eilish said, “I just couldn’t take the fact that I had to leave again [to go on tour]. It felt like an endless limbo. Like there was no end in sight. And, I mean, it’s true: There really is no end in sight with touring. Thinking about that literally made me throw up. I’m not a throw-upper, but I threw up twice, from the anxiety.”
Well, Eilish is not the only celebrity to open up about mental health struggles. Ellie Goulding, Jennifer Lawrence, and Emma Stone have all revealed how stardom pressure has affected their psychological well-being.
Eilish also revealed that she has been seeking help to address her mental health struggles. She said, “I just was in such a bad place. It was too much on me. I was too much on me. I don’t want advice, because I’m not going to take it anyway. I just wanted to be heard.”
She hopes that by sharing her struggles would help others to seek help and feel better. “Sometimes I see girls at my shows with scars on their arms, and it breaks my heart,” added the Ocean Eyes singer. “I don’t have scars anymore because it was so long ago. But I’ve said to a couple of them, ‘Just be nice to yourself.’ Because I know, I was there.” Eilish continued, “I haven’t been depressed in a minute, which is great. Seventeen has probably been the best year of my life. I’ve liked 17.”
