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Billie Eilish responds after body-shamers criticise her over tank top photos

Singer recently wore shorts and a tank top while out in Los Angeles 

Chelsea Ritschel
New York
Thursday 15 October 2020 10:27 BST
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Billie Eilish appears to respond to body-shaming
Billie Eilish appears to respond to body-shaming (Getty Images for The Recording A)
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Billie Eilish has seemingly responded to body-shamers who criticised her appearance after photos of the singer wearing shorts and a tank top circulated online.

Earlier this week, social media users and tabloids shared photos of the 18-year-old taken while she was out in Los Angeles, with one man’s tweet about the teenager’s body prompting widespread backlash.

Shortly after, Eilish appeared to react to the criticism about her appearance on her Instagram Stories, first uploading a video of her walking past her collection of awards and winking, before sharing a video by Chizi Duru about the importance of normalising bodies.

In the clip, Duru said: “Y'all gotta start normalising real bodies, okay? Not everybody has a wagon behind them, okay? Guts are normal - they're normal. Boobs sag, especially after breastfeeding. Instagram isn't real."

“Instagram has warped a lot of y’all into thinking NORMAL bodies are abnormal. NO,” Duru captioned the post on her own Instagram.

The Grammy winner also shared a photo of herself on Instagram with the caption: “Do you really want to go back in time?” which some of her fans took to be a reference to her previous comments about body-shaming.

In May, the pop star shared a short film titled Not My Responsibility, which sees her commenting on public opinions about her body and appearance.

“Do you know me? Do you really know me?" Eilish said in the video. “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.”

“Would you like me to be smaller? Weaker? Softer? Taller?" Eilish continued. "Would you like me to be quiet? Do my shoulders provoke you? Does my chest? Am I my stomach? My hips? The body I was born with, is it not what you wanted?"

Eilish also previously discussed body-shaming with GQ, telling the magazine that she typically dresses in baggy clothing because she doesn’t “like to think of you guys judging my body.”

“I dress the way I dress as I don’t like to think of you guys - I mean anyone, everyone - judging it, or the size of it,” she said at the time. “But that doesn’t mean that I won’t wake up one day and decide to wear a tank top, which I have done before.”

In addition to her own subtle response, hundreds of Eilish’s fans have also come to her defence, with many calling out body-shaming and double standards.

“Leave Billie Eilish and her body alone f***in weirdos,” one person wrote on Twitter.

Another said: “Billie Eilish is beautiful! PLEASE, do not body shame her, or anyone for that matter. Body-shaming is not ‘news’ or ‘gossip’ it’s HARMFUL and UNACCEPTABLE.”

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