Current:Home > NewsBillie Eilish opens up about lifelong battle with depression: 'I've never been a happy person' -Infinite Edge Capital
Billie Eilish opens up about lifelong battle with depression: 'I've never been a happy person'
View
Date:2025-04-16 14:24:16
Billie Eilish is known for her emotional brand of dark pop, and the singer is opening up about the mental health struggles she's faced.
Eilish, who's gearing up for the release of her third album "Hit Me Hard and Soft" next month, reflected on her lifelong battle with depression in an interview with Rolling Stone published Wednesday. The "What Was I Made For?" songstress revealed she suffered an intense bout last summer.
"It was just realer than it's ever been before," Eilish told the magazine. "My whole life, I've never been a happy person, really. I've been a joyous person but not a happy person. I experience joy and laughter, and I can find fun in things, but I’m a depressed person.
"I've suffered with a lot of depression my whole life. When things happen in my soul, or whatever, the thing I've always held on to is, 'Well, it'll pass. It'll come in waves, and it'll get worse and it'll get better.' And that's always brought me comfort. And this time, I literally was like, 'I don't care. I don't even want it to get better.' "
Clinical depression is often described as constant or frequent feelings of apathy, hopelessness, helplessness, or feeling so overwhelmed or disconnected from other persons or events that it becomes difficult to even carry out day-to-day tasks or responsibilities.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated in 2023 that nearly 1 in 5 U.S. adults are suffering from depression, with women being more impacted than men by a difference of 24% to 13.3%.
Billie Eilish is back:Singer to return with her third album, 'Hit Me Hard and Soft.' Here are all the details.
How going outside helped Billie Eilish amid depression battle
In addition to the support of family and friends, Eilish said stepping away from the insulated lifestyle that often accompanies celebrity helped her navigate the throes of her depression.
“I had this moment of like, ‘Oh, my God, I haven’t had fun in seven years.’ Truly,” Eilish said. “I had this illusion that I had because who experiences going to the Grammys at basically 17 and winning five? But in life, I realized I had really not experienced that much. I didn’t go outside for five years. How was I supposed to have any experiences?”
Eilish’s outings included going to grocery stores such as Lassens, Erewhon and Target, attending a concert by punk rock band Turnstile and going inside an ice cream shop with childhood best friend Zoe Donahoe.
“I’m afraid,” Eilish continued. “For a (expletive) good reason. I’m afraid of people, I’m afraid of the world. It’s just scary for somebody like me, and even if it’s not scary, it means being on and being vulnerable and being seen and being filmed and whatever. But with that all in mind, I have been choosing to do the thing that scares me more. I am biting the bullet and existing in the world for once.”
Billie Eilish at SAG Awards:Singer autographs Melissa McCarthy's face with Sharpie during SAG Awards stunt
But despite her candor on the subject, Eilish is wary of becoming a role model for mental health.
“I think it’s really weird when you are in the middle of something and somebody asks you to be the advocate for the thing you’re in the middle of,” Eilish said. “I understand that it’s important, and I understand that it’s an epidemic and it needs to be talked about, but I don’t want to (expletive) be the role model for depression. What happens when I do some(thing) y’all aren’t going to like?”
If you or someone you know needs support for mental health, suicidal thoughts or substance abuse call, text or chat:
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: 988 and 988lifeline.org
BlackLine: 800-604-5841 and callblackline.com
Trans Lifeline: 877-565-8860 and translifeline.org
Veterans Crisis Line: Dial 988 and press 1 to talk to someone; send a text message to 988; or chat 988lifeline.org
Contributing: Daryl Austin, USA TODAY
veryGood! (5657)
Related
- Buckingham Palace staff under investigation for 'bar brawl'
- Japan's Kobayashi Pharmaceutical now probing 80 deaths over possible link to benikoji red yeast supplement
- Are there microplastics in your penis? It's possible, new study reveals.
- Trump mocks Biden over debate performance, but says it's not his age that's the problem
- South Korean president's party divided over defiant martial law speech
- Republican JD Vance journeys from ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ memoirist to US senator to VP contender
- India wins the Twenty20 World Cup in a thrilling final against South Africa
- ‘A Quiet Place’ prequel box office speaks volumes as Costner’s Western gets a bumpy start
- Rolling Loud 2024: Lineup, how to stream the world's largest hip hop music festival
- 5 things to know about CBS News' 2024 Battleground Tracker election poll analysis
Ranking
- Small twin
- Evacuation orders lifted for some Arizona residents forced from their homes days ago by a wildfire
- From Luxurious to Rugged, These Are the Best Hotels Near National Parks
- SWAT member who lost lower leg after being run over by fire truck at Nuggets parade stages comeback
- Woman dies after Singapore family of 3 gets into accident in Taiwan
- Martin Mull, scene-stealing actor from 'Roseanne', 'Arrested Development', dies at 80
- 2024 NHL free agent rankings: Top 25 players to watch when free agency opens
- Michael J. Fox plays guitar with Coldplay at Glastonbury: 'Our hero forever'
Recommendation
'Most Whopper
Whether math adds up for US men's Olympic team remains to be seen | Opinion
Brody Malone, Fred Richard highlight 2024 U.S. Olympic men's gymnastics team
How are Texas, Oklahoma celebrating SEC move? Pitbull, pep rallies and more
Jorge Ramos reveals his final day with 'Noticiero Univision': 'It's been quite a ride'
Baseball Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda dies at 86
Bardet wins hot and hilly opening Tour de France stage in Italy while Cavendish struggles
Arizona man gets life sentence on murder conviction in starvation death of 6-year-old son