Billie Eilish Calls Boyfriend Jesse Rutherford ‘the Hottest F***ing F***er Alive’
Things are coming up roses for Billie Eilish recently. The pop phenom secured her first Oscar win earlier this year for the titular song in the latest Bond film, No Time to Die. She completed a successful world tour celebrating her latest album, Happier Than Ever. And now she’s working on new music with her brother Finneas O’Connell.
On top of all that, Eilish is celebrating a new relationship with musician Jesse Rutherford, the frontman for The Neighbourhood. In a recent interview with Vanity Fair — her sixth annual one with the publication — she boasted of their relationship status. There are some in her fan base worried about the duo’s age dynamic and Eilish’s perspective on the relationship. But the artist is proud of where she’s at.
Billie Eilish has had notable ex-boyfriends
There was a time when a young Eilish, new to fame, wanted nothing to do with the dating scene. “No, no, no, no,” she laughed, when Vanity Fair asked if she was dating anyone at 15, soon after she broke onto the music scene with her hit single “Ocean Eyes.”
A year later, she also said ‘no’ to dating. “I could not have a boyfriend, that would just be mean to him,” she said at the time. However, Eilish did date Brandon Quention Adams — aka Q to Eilish — for a brief period in 2018 and 2019. Eilish ended things, saying in an Apple TV+ documentary that she “didn’t want the same things he wanted.”
Last year, Eilish was rumored to be dating Matthew Tyler Vorce, an actor based in Los Angeles, per The Sun. Eilish didn’t mention much about him in her 2021 Vanity Fair interview, though she did happily admit to having a boyfriend this time last year. In the 2022 interview, she said she’s “extremely grateful” for the relationship she was in last year, even though things didn’t work out between the two. “I think he’s f***ing SO much happier now, which makes me really happy,” she said.
Billie Eilish gushes about boyfriend Jesse Rutherford
Of course, it’s easier to be happy for someone else when you have also moved on. This year, Eilish said she was dating again. She doesn’t name Rutherford at first — she mentions him briefly a bit later. (The “Your Power” singer confirmed they were together on her Instagram page on November 1.) However, she starts off somewhat demure about the topic, saying, “It’s really cool and I’m really excited and I’m really happy about [the relationship],” she said.
However, her voice grows more confident as she speaks about it. “I managed to get my life to a point where I not only was known by a person who I thought was the hottest f***ing f***er alive, but pulled his a**,” Eilish said.
In the interview, Eilish is almost disbelieving it’s happened. “Are you kidding me?” she asks. “Can we just — round of applause for me,” she said. “I pulled his a**. All me. I did that s***,” she continued. “I locked that motherf***** DOWN.”
Eilish went on to say that physical touch makes her happy in a relationship, along with other relational factors. “I don’t want to be controlled,” she said. “I want to be trusted, and I want to be able to have space, and I want love and attention…” she paused. “Equal admiration is really important. I’m just really inspired by this person and he’s really inspired by me.”
The pair’s age gap has been controversial
Eilish shows she has a grasp of what she wants in a relationship. But many in her fanbase have expressed concerns about her age gap with Rutherford, and the fact that she openly admired him for years before he reciprocated. Eilish, now 20, is 11 years younger than Rutherford.
Lest anyone think the “Bad Guy” singer isn’t in the loop about the age difference, the duo dressed as a baby in a bonnet and an old man for Halloween. But the joke didn’t sit well with some. “Babe he groomed you and you’re so caught up in the fantasy of it that you don’t realise how messed up the last costumes are,” one fan wrote on the post. Others also said he was “grooming” her for the relationship.
Still, other fans stood up for the pair. Some commented that the costumes were part of a larger group, not just the two of them. In addition, they pointed out that many people have age gaps similar to theirs, and that Eilish is clearly a legal and consenting adult woman. “I swear to god people just want a reason to cancel celebrities these days, ye all just crave drama,” one person wrote.
