Billie Eilish Opens Up About How Online Hate Made Her Suicidal
Anyone who is famous today inevitably has to learn how to deal with receiving hateful comments online. Thanks to social media, celebrities are more connected to their fans than before, but that has also allowed trolls to make their unsightly views more known to the world.
Billie Eilish rose to fame just a few years ago and has been learning how to deal with this problem. In fact, the teenage singer recently shared that the hateful words on the internet got so unbearable that, at some point, she even considered taking her own life.
Billie Eilish has spoken up about experiencing depression
In an interview with Rolling Stones last year, Eilish revealed she started experiencing depression at the age of 13. Eilish was a serious dancer before that, but a hip injury forced her to quit dancing. This led her to a dark place in her life.
“It sent me down a hole,” Eilish said. “I went through a whole self-harming phase… The gist of it was, I felt like I deserved to be in pain.”
Because of her struggles, Eilish has been using her fame to start conversations about mental health. In May 2019, Eilish started working with the Ad Council on their “Seize the Awkward” campaign to get people talking about these topics and support their loved ones who might be going through tough times.
Billie Eilish reveals she almost attempted suicide in 2018 after receiving hate comments
Eilish might be a successful musician now, but that does not mean she is immune to depression. In fact, being famous put Eilish in a bad place in early 2018. She was on tour in Berlin when she seriously considered suicide.
“I almost killed myself because of Twitter a couple of years ago,” she told GQ UK recently, sharing that reading negative comments about herself was what got her to that point. “I was thinking about the way I was going to die.”
Fortunately, Eilish was able to “snap back into reality” because of her mom and brother. They had gone out momentarily, but her mom realized something could be wrong, so she sent Eilish’s tour manager to check on Eilish.
“I don’t know what they said exactly, but I was sitting in this window by the bed and I saw him, this guy called Brian – I’ve been working with him since I was 14 – and he was walking towards me from the other side of the hotel,” Eilish said. “There was a knock on the door and he came in. He made me laugh and joked around. I asked him, ‘Did my mom tell you to come here?’ He replied, ‘Maybe.’”
Billie Eilish tries to not read social media comments anymore
Knowing what hate comments could do to her, Eilish is very careful about her social media usage nowadays, even if her young fan base would like her to be more active.
“I don’t watch people’s [Instagram] Stories, I quit Twitter a couple of years ago,” Eilish told GQ UK. “I look at the occasional meme and I feel bad that I don’t post more, as the fans want it, but I have nothing to post. Honestly. Zip.”
How to get help: In the U.S., call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Or text HOME to 741-741 to connect with a trained crisis counselor at the free Crisis Text Line.
