Billie Eilish bursts into tears during Brits acceptance speech as she reveals she’s ‘felt very hated recently’

She said that seeing a "smiling" audience at the show made her "want to cry"
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Billie Eilish broke down in tears as she received the Brit Award for Best International Female Artist.

As she accepted her trophy from Spice Girls star Melanie Chisholm, the 18-year-old became emotional as she admitted that she has “felt very hated recently.”

After paying tribute to the other women nominated, she said that performing her Bond theme No Time To Die to a “smiling” audience had moved her.

“I have wanted to say something that I was thinking like two seconds ago,” she said. “I’ve felt very hated recently.

Eilish gave an emotional speech
Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

“And when I was on the stage and I saw you guys smiling at me, it genuinely made me want to cry and I want to cry right now, so thank you.”

Her tearful speech came after she admitted to BBC Breakfast that she no longer reads comments on social media as “it was ruining my life,” admitting that she should have stopped “long ago.”

“I stopped like two days ago,” she explained. “I’ve stopped reading comments fully. It was ruining my life.

She performed her Bond theme live for the first time
Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

“It’s weird. The cooler the things you get to do, the more people hate you.”

“Cancel culture is insane. The internet is a bunch of trolls and the problem is a lot of it is really funny. It’s anything for a joke. People say anything to make people laugh.

The Brit Awards 2020: Show Winning Moments - In pictures

1/26

“It’s insane that I have ever been reading comments. I should’ve stopped long ago but the problem is I’ve always wanted to stay in touch with my fans and people have ruined that for me and for them. That sucks.”

She said that she will still “like” fan posts and will interact with fans face to face, but “the internet is ruining my life, so I turned it off.”

Eilish was joined by her brother Finneas O’Connell, composer Hans Zimmer and former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr for the debut live performance of No Time To Die.

She was backed by a full orchestra for the stunning rendition.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in