Billie Eilish was thrust into the limelight at just 14 years old after her song “Ocean Eyes” went viral. The track, produced by her brother Finneas, was uploaded online without any record label backing, and it quickly catapulted her to global fame.
During a recent appearance on Lily Allen and Miquita Oliver’s podcast, “Miss Me?”, Billie opened up about the challenges she faced with friendships as her career took off. She revealed that she initially believed her team were her friends, only to later realize they were there because they were on her payroll.
Billie also shared that she often found herself in romantic relationships where her partner was her only friend. This led her to stay in those relationships longer than she should have, simply because she had no one else.
The stark difference in her social life became evident when she attended a Coachella party earlier this year with a group of friends. Her longtime security team even commented on the unusual sight of her being surrounded by people, as they were not used to it.
Billie recalled feeling particularly sad when listening to Lily Allen’s hit single “Smile” because she couldn’t relate to the lyrics about friendship.
On the “Miss Me?” podcast, Billie candidly discussed how her friendships suffered when she became famous. “I lost all of my friends when I got famous,” she told the hosts. “I suddenly was famous and I couldn’t relate to anybody. It was tough. It was really hard.”
Despite the challenges, Billie noted that her best friend, Zoe, remained by her side throughout her rise to stardom. “She’s pretty much the only person that remained,” Billie said.
The Grammy-winning artist recounted a surreal moment at her 20th birthday party when she realized that her only “friends” were actually her employees. “I remember looking around the room, and it was only people that I employ,” she said. “And all 15 years or more older than me.”
Billie admitted that she has worked hard to make new friends and rekindle old friendships. She shared that she is “very freaked out by loss” and has “a lot of abandonment problems.” The trauma of a former employee quitting and going contactless made her realize she might be truly alone.
“Since then, I’ve become very distant in that way from people that I work with, and I have a very weird relationship to being friendly with people that I work with,” Billie explained.
However, Billie has made significant strides in rebuilding her social circle. She told Allen and Oliver that she grew emotional at the Coachella festival in April, reflecting on her newfound friendships. “I got in the car after this party and I was sitting there, and my friends were like, ‘What’s going on? Are you OK?’ And I was like, totally fine … And I burst into tears,” Billie recalled.
She added, “I was like, guys, I have friends, and I just love you guys so much, and it’s been so long since I’ve had friends. I cried … and it’s literally because I actually have friendship now again.”
