Billie Eilish says watching ‘abusive’ porn as a child ‘really destroyed my brain’
Singer Billie Eilish (Getty/Axelle/Bauer-Griffin)
Billie Eilish has opened up about watching porn for the first time when she was just 11, claiming that the “abusive” content led her to suffer from nightmares.
The 19-year-old singer got candid about the impact viewing extreme porn had on her teenage years during an interview with SiriusXM‘s Howard Stern, saying it “destroyed” her brain.
The topic of pornography came up as it is referenced in her song “Male Fantasy”, from her album Happier Than Ever.
Billie Eilish explained: “As a woman, I think porn is a disgrace. I used to watch a lot of porn, to be honest. I started watching porn when I was like 11 and I didn’t understand why it was a bad thing. I thought that was how you learned to have sex.”
Billie Eilish at the “No Time To Die” world premiere on 28 September 2021 in London (Mike Marsland/WireImage/Getty)
She explained that her mother was “horrified” when she told her and added: “I was watching abusive porn, to be honest, when I was like 14.
“I was an advocate and thought I was one of the guys and would talk about it and thought I was cool for not having a problem with it.”
The Grammy-winning singer continued: “I think it really destroyed my brain and I feel incredibly devastated that I was exposed to so much porn.”
The “No Time To Die” singer also claimed the adult content was responsible for her experiencing sleep paralysis and nightmares.
Eilish added that the violent pornography skewered her understanding about consent and said she found herself “not saying no to things that were not good” during the first few times she had sex.
“It was because I thought that’s what I was supposed to be attracted to,” she added.
The “Your Power” singer went on to condemn the insecurities and body image issues pornography can contribute to through its unrealistic portrayals of the female body.
She explained: “I’m so angry that porn is so loved, and I’m so angry at myself for thinking that it was okay. The way that vaginas look in porn is f**king crazy.
“No vaginas look like that. Women’s bodies don’t look like that. We don’t come like that.”
Eilish continued: “It’s how so many men think they’re supposed to be and because in porn there’s no consent there’s a huge problem of consent and not just consent in having sex but consent during sex.
“Yeah it’s not super hot if someone is like ‘Can I do this?’… but it’s really important.”
