Billie Eilish accuses ‘Variety’ of outing her: “Leave me alone”

Singer Billie Eilish, 21, has lashed out at Variety and accused the magazine of outing her.

Eilish graced the cover of Variety’s ‘Power of Women’ issue in mid-November. In the interview, she said, “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.”

The comment passed without a huge amount of attention. Since first achieving fame in 2019 with her debut album, Eilish has resisted labeling her sexuality. She has had boyfriends but has also previously hinted at an interest in women.

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Then, on Saturday morning, at a Variety Hitmakers event, reporter Tiana DeNicola quizzed Eilish on the red carpet.

Billie Eilish opens up about coming out in her Variety cover story: "I didn't realize people didn't know!" | Variety Hitmakers presented by @sonyelectronics https://t.co/xxmgD0zs3Y pic.twitter.com/uDDbCk6tgp

— Variety (@Variety) December 2, 2023

“Did you mean to come out in the story?” DeNicola asked.

“I didn’t,” Eilish laughs. “No, I didn’t. But I kinda thought ‘Wasn’t it obvious?’ I didn’t realize people didn’t know, so…

“We need to get to a point where you don’t even have to come out,” says DeNicola.

“I just don’t really believe it in,” replies Eilish. “I’m like, why can’t we just exist? I’ve been doing this for a long time and I just didn’t talk about it.

“But I saw all the articles. I was like, ‘Oh, I guess I came out today! OK, cool.’ But it’s exciting to me. I guess people didn’t know so it’s cool that they know, but, oooh, I’m nervous talking about it. But I’m for the girls.”

To many, this seemed more unequivocal. Although Eilish still resisted attaching a label to her sexuality, she seemed to be making her strongest statement yet about her attraction to women. Social media blazed all weekend with ‘Billie Eilish comes out’ comments.

“Leave me alone about it please”

Then, last night, Eilish appeared to put her comments into perspective. She also took aim at Variety for quizzing her about her sexuality on the red carpet.

“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’🥸”

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A post shared by BILLIE EILISH (@billieeilish)

Eilish, alongside her brother and collaborator Finneas, took the award for Film Song of the Year for “What Was I Made For” from Barbie. Variety has not responded to Eilish’s message.

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