Billie Eilish accuses Variety of ‘outing’ her in cover story

Home*Cover Story*Entertainment

Billie Eilish accuses Variety of ‘outing’ her in cover story

Billie Eilish has asked people to stop discussing her sexuality as she accused a magazine of “outing” her.

The Bad Guy singer suggested she was attracted to women in a recent cover interview for US outlet Variety.

And at the magazine’s Hitmakers awards over the weekend, Billie was asked on-camera if she had meant to come out.

Billie’s since sarcastically thanked Variety for “outing” her “instead of talking about anything else that matters”.

BBC Newsbeat contacted the publisher for comment and was pointed towards Billie’s interviews where she discussed her attraction to women with reporters.

Although Billie seemed upbeat during the red carpet chat on Saturday, her Instagram post wasn’t so chilled.

“Thanks Variety for my award and also outing me on a red carpet at 11am instead of talking to me about anything else that matters,” she wrote.

“I like boys and girls leave me alone about it please literally who cares.”

In the magazine interview, first published on 13 November, Billie discusses being a young woman in the public eye and how she’d felt intimidated by other females.

“I’ve never really felt like I could relate to girls very well,” the 21-year-old told Variety.

“I love them so much. I love them as people. I’m attracted to them as people. I’m attracted to them for real.”

When asked about her sexuality on the red carpet event at the weekend, she said: “I didn’t realise people didn’t know.”

“I saw the article and was like, ‘Oh, I guess I came out today’. But it’s exciting to me… it’s cool that they know.”

But she also said she didn’t really believe in the concept of “coming out” and the idea that people should have to reveal their sexuality.

“Why can’t we just exist?,” she said. “I’ve been doing this for a long time and I just didn’t talk about it.”

Alongside her brother and collaborator Finneas, Billie accepted the award for Film Song of the Year for What Was I Made For from Barbie.