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Billie Eilish has addressed the media frenzy over her sexuality in a new Instagram post.
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For those who missed it, Billie spoke out about how she’s attracted to women as well as men during an interview with Variety last month. While she’d hinted at being attracted to women in the past, this was the first time that Billie explicitly discussed the subject.
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“I’ve never really felt like I could relate to girls very well,” Billie 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.”
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Billie continued, “I have deep connections with women in my life, the friends in my life, the family in my life. I’m physically attracted to them. But I’m also so intimidated by them and their beauty and their presence.”
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Fast-forward a few weeks, and Billie was asked about the now-viral comments she made during her cover interview at Variety's 2023 Hitmakers event on Saturday.
Variety
While on the red carpet, an interviewer asked Billie, “We gotta talk about your cover story because you mentioned that you felt like for a long time, women didn’t like you. And when that came out, all the women were like, ‘No, we love her!’ How did that reception feel?”
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Variety
Laughing along with the reporter, Billie jokingly replied, “I’m still scared of them, but I think they’re pretty.”
Variety
The reporter then went on to ask, “Billie, did you mean to come out in that story?” In response, Billie laughed and said, “Girl, no I didn’t, but I kinda thought, Wasn’t it obvious? I didn’t realize people didn’t know.”
Variety
“I just don’t really believe in it. I’m just like, ‘Why can’t we just exist?’” said Billie, who has previously expressed frustration toward the media's hyperfixation on her sexuality.
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Variety
“I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I just didn’t talk about it. Whoops,” Billie went on, before adding, “But I saw the article, and I was like, ‘Oh, I guess I came out today!’ It’s exciting to me because I guess people didn’t know, but it’s cool that they know.”
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Billie later made it known that she was “nervous talking about” the subject on the red carpet, though noted again: “I am for the girls.”
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The reporter then went on to ask Billie about her forthcoming album, prompting the singer to gush over how “excited” she is to release the new project.
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Shortly after her red carpet interview with Variety took place, Billie — who was presented with the award for Film Song of the Year at the Variety event — took to Instagram to accuse the outlet of “outing” her, which is the act of making someone’s sexual orientation public without their consent.
“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,” she began.
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Some people empathized with Billie’s frustration at the widespread focus on her comments about her sexuality. "They were so out of pocket for asking that," one comment read, while another person wrote, "yeah can we just let queer people live pls."
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However, many internet users felt it was necessary to highlight that Variety didn’t “out” the singer on the red carpet.
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