As part of her new British Vogue cover story, Billie Eilish opened up about her experiences with abuse.
The interview comes shortly after the release of Billie's new single, "Your Power" — which Billie describes as an "Open letter to people who take advantage — mostly men."
The perspective that Billie takes in "Your Power" is not one that she thinks that she would've previously understood. “I used to not understand why age mattered. And, of course, you feel like that when you’re young, because you’re the oldest you’ve ever been."
However, it is precisely this expectation to know everything when you're young that Billie says can make space for exploitation. “People forget that you can grow up and realize shit was fucked up when you were younger," she continued.
"Your Power" isn't the only song of Billie's to deal with abuse — the lyrics of "When I Was Older" still resonate with her. “You can always be taken advantage of. That’s a big problem in the world of domestic abuse or statutory rape — girls that were very confident and strong-willed finding themselves in situations where they’re like, ‘Oh my god, I’m the victim here?’"
"It’s so embarrassing and humiliating and demoralizing to be in that position of thinking you know so much and then you realize, I’m being abused right now," she added.
Billie then went on to say that such abuse happened to her when she was younger. She doesn't want to identify the abuser, other than specifying that it wasn't someone in the music industry, as she thinks it would go contrary to her points about how abuse is systemic.
Unfortunately, she's already aware of some of the backlash sharing her story, combined with the Vogue photos, might get: “‘You’re going to complain about being taken advantage of as a minor, but then you’re going to show your boobs?’ Yes I am, motherfucker! I’m going to because there’s no excuse.”
You can read Billie's full Vogue UK cover story here.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE, which routes the caller to their nearest sexual assault service provider. You can also search your local center here.