Warning: This article discusses eating disorders and self-harm and may be distressing for some readers.
Billie Eilish has reflected on the unexpected and vicious backlash she received after she was papped wearing a tank top last year.
In an interview with Vogue, the 'Bad Guy' hitmaker revealed she had long battled her own issues with her body, which at their worst, culminated in self-harming and "starving herself".
It was a particularly unpleasant experience, then, when a photo of the then-18-year-old running errands in shorts and a singlet became the talk of the Internet, with comments "ranging from the celebratory to the vile", as Vogue writer Keziah Weir puts it.
Eilish maintained that her team were more worried about the photo than she was, given her history.
"Because the reason I used to cut myself was because of my body," she told Vogue.
"To be quite honest with you, I only started wearing baggy clothes because of my body."
The five-time-Grammy-Award-winner said she was "really, really glad" that she had reached a place of self-acceptance in her life that meant she could handle the fallout from the image.
"If that had happened three years ago, when I was in the midst of my horrible body relationship - or dancing a ton, five years ago, I wasn’t really eating. I was, like, starving myself," she said.
"I remember taking a pill that told me that it would make me lose weight and it only made me pee the bed - when I was 12. It's just crazy. I can't even believe, like I - wow. Yeah.
"I thought that I would be the only one dealing with my hatred for my body, but I guess the internet also hates my body. So that's great," she added.
In May last year, Eilish dropped a self-produced short-film which saw her disrobe from a black hoodie into her bra, sinking into a pool of black water while her voice-over declares: "Some people hate what I wear. Some people praise it. Some people use it to shame others. Some people use it to shame me."
"If I wear what is comfortable, I am not a woman," the video continues.
"If I shed the layers, I am a slut. Though you've never seen my body, you still judge it and judge me for it."
