Billie Eilish Slams Variety for Red Carpet 'Outing'

Pop star Billie Eilish took Variety to task over a red carpet interview outing her as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. She aired her grievances in an Instagram post on Sunday, Dec. 3 after she was asked about her sexuality at the outlet's Hitmakers award ceremony the day prior.

"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 said. "I like boys and girls leave me alone about it please literally who cares."

Speculation about the 21-year-old's sexuality arose after she spoke about the way she sees other women in a Variety cover story published last month: "I’ve never really felt like I could relate to girls very well," Eilish said. "I love them so much. I love them as people. I'm attracted to them as people. I'm attracted to them for real."

During her red carpet interview on Dec. 2, the pop star was asked if she had intended to come out publicly in the story. Eilish said this wasn't on purpose, but added that she assumed the public already knew she was queer.

"I kind of thought, 'Wasn’t it obvious?' … I didn’t realize people didn’t know," the star said. Eilish added that she doesn't believe in the concept of coming out. "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."

Eilish didn't express any obvious anger during the award show interview: "I saw the article, and I was like, 'Oh, I guess I came out today,'" she said. "It’s exciting to me because I guess people didn’t know, but it’s cool that they know… I am for the girls."

Fans left supportive comments below Eilish's Instagram post. "Ate them up with that caption," one said. "Love you Billie, we already knew girly don’t worry," said another. "Honored to have you on the team," a different commenter said. "I'm so proud of you," someone else said.

There were also some supportive comments left under Variety's video of the interview posted to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

"Good for her," one person said. "I'm glad she can live life to its fullest, it's just sad things like that are considered important character traits when it should be as irrelevant as her shoe size." Someone else felt the same way: "I like her music. I guess I fall into the category of 'I didn't care' because it's none of my business."

Eilish grew up in Los Angeles. Her mother is Maggie Baird, an actress who's appeared in shows like Bones and The X-Files.

The pop sensation first stepped into the spotlight with the release of her 2015 track "Ocean Eyes," which was written and produced by her brother Finneas O'Connell. She was just 13 years old at the time.

Since then, the star has released two studio albums – 2019's When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? And 2021's Happier Than Ever. Both LPs made it to the top of the Billboard 200 and other charts around the world.