Billie Elish delivers powerful message about body shaming during world tour: 'If I wear what is comfortable, I am not a woman. If I shed the layers, I’m a s***'
'Though you’ve never seen my body, you still judge it and judge me for it. Why?' asks singer
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Your support makes all the difference.Billie Eilish delivered a powerful message about body shaming during the first night of her world tour.
On Monday, the 18-year-old singer kicked off her "Where Do We Go?" tour at the American Airlines Arena in Miami.
During an interlude at the concert, Eilish debuted a video that was projected onto the big screens at the venue.
In the clip the Bad Guy singer, who has previously said she wears baggy clothes to avoid being sexualised, addressed criticism of what she wears and negative comments made about her body on social media.
The video started with Eilish removing several layers of clothing until she was left wearing just a bra, before sinking dramatically under water.
As the visual played, the star’s voice could be heard saying: “You have opinions about my opinions; about my music; about my clothes; about my body.
“Some people hate what I wear; some people praise it; some people use it to shame others; some people use it to shame me, but I feel you watching.
“Would you like me to be smaller? Weaker? Softer? Taller? Would you like me to be quiet? Do my shoulders provoke you? Does my chest? Am I my stomach? My hips?”
Eilish continued by highlighting the conflicting messages she receives about her body, stating: “The body I was born with – is it not what you wanted? If I wear what is comfortable, I am not a woman. If I shed the layers, I’m a slut. Though you’ve never seen my body, you still judge it and judge me for it. Why?”
The “Everything I Wanted” singer concluded the clip by warning people against making assumptions of others people based on their size.
“If I wear more; if I wear less, who decides what that makes me? What that means?,” she said.
“Is my value based only on your perception? Or is your opinion of me not my responsibility?”
Fans were quick to praise Eilish for the powerful video, with one person calling her “the strongest, most empowering woman I know”.
In 2019, the Grammy Award winner explained the reason she wears baggy clothes during a campaign shoot for luxury fashion brand Calvin Klein.
In the 30-second video, Eilish said: ”I never want the world to know everything about me. I mean, that’s why I wear big, baggy clothes.
“Nobody can have an opinion because they haven’t seen what’s underneath, you know?
“Nobody can be like, ‘Oh, she’s slim-thick, she’s not slim-thick, she’s got a flat ass, she’s got a fat ass.’ No one can say any of that, because they don’t know.”
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