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Here's Why Fans Think Billie Eilish Just Came Out
Not every coming out is a grand announcement.
Billie Eilish got candid with fans over the weekend, and now some are wondering if this was her way of coming out.
The “bad guy” singer split from Jesse Rutherford back in May, and confirmed via Instagram Q&A that she remains single and “very good friends” with her ex.
But that wasn’t all Eilish had to say about her personal life. One fan asked who her current celebrity crush is, pleading with her to “BE HONEST,” and she responded with a photo of Maya Hawke.
Perhaps even more telling is that another fan asked a simple one word question—“Fruity?”—and the singer cheekily replied with a photo of a variety of fruits.
This isn't the first time fans have wondered if Eilish quietly came out. Last year, she admitted her childhood celebrity crush was everyone’s favorite teen vampire slayer, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and the year before that, an Instagram follow-up to her music video for “Lost Cause” had fans thinking it might be a coming out post.
Several months later, she expressed annoyance with fans speculating about her sexuality, but responding to Instagram questions in this way suggests something may have shifted for the singer.
It’s also left fans continuing the debate over whether it’s “disrespectful” to read into what some take to be signaling queerness without explicitly spelling things out via a full-on announcement, or whether this is just the way some people are most comfortable coming out—quietly, gradually, and without a lot of fanfare.
The argument against speculating that a celebrity might not be straight is a tired one, rooted in the homophobic idea that we should just accept that being queer is somehow damaging to a person’s reputation. You never see this same energy directed at speculation that a celebrity might be straight, or that they’re dating anyone of the opposite gender that gets within a three-foot radius of them. So until that changes, there’s no legitimate reason to decline to pick up what a celeb is putting down and stop speculating they might not be straight, too.
Rachel Kiley is presumably a writer and definitely not a terminator. She can usually be found crying over queerbaiting in the Pitch Perfect franchise or on Twitter, if not both.
Rachel Kiley is presumably a writer and definitely not a terminator. She can usually be found crying over queerbaiting in the Pitch Perfect franchise or on Twitter, if not both.
