Photo by Nathan DeFiesta on Unsplash
Billie Eilish was interviewed for the cover of Variety, which was published on Nov. 13 and included snippets about her sexuality. Now, the “Happier Than Ever” singer accused the same outlet of “outing” her, which means revealing someone’s sexual orientation without consent, after she received multiple questions about it on a red carpet.
This comes after Eilish revealed that she’s attracted to women and men during her interview.
“I have deep connections with women in my life, the friends in my life, the family in my life,” Eilish said in her Variety interview. “I’m physically attracted to them. But I’m also so intimidated by them and their beauty and their presence.”
The singer has been subjected to speculation about her sexuality for years. She was accused of queerbaiting, which means implying non-heterosexual relationships to draw a bigger audience without truly identifying with that sexuality, in her “Lost Cause” music video back in 2021. She responded back then in an Elle Magazine interview by saying that people questioned her sexuality, to which she replied, “Oh yeah, that’s everyone else’s business, right?”
Two years after that initial controversy, in which Eilish inadvertently, by her own admission, came out through Variety, Eilish was honored at its Hitmakers Brunch in Los Angeles, California on Dec. 2. While she was there, she cleared up a few things with reporters on the red carpet, including the fact that she didn’t realize she needed to come out at all.
“I kind of thought, ‘Wasn’t it obvious?’” Eilish said. “I didn’t realize people didn’t know. I just don’t really believe in it. I’m just like ‘Why can’t we just exist?’ I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I just didn’t talk about it. Whoops.”
Eilish added that she found out when the Variety story published that she came out in the magazine.
“But I saw the article, and I was like, ‘Oh, I guess I came out today,’” Eilish said. “OK, cool. It’s exciting to me because I guess people didn’t know, but it’s cool that they know.”
Eilish and her brother, Finneas O’Connell, received the Film Song of the Year award at the Hitmakers event for the Barbie song, “What Was I Made For?” However, a day after the award and the list of questions about her confirmed sexuality from numerous reporters, Eilish took to Instagram to criticize Variety for outing her.
“Thanks variety for my award and for also outing me on a red carpet at 11 a.m. 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,” Eilish wrote on Instagram.
Eilish is not the first celebrity to accuse publications of “outing” them. In 2022, Rebel Wilson received two days to confirm her relationship with Ramona Agruma before the Sydney Morning Herald published an article about it.