Billie Eilish Now Feels Blessed With How ‘Music Kind of Replaced Dancing’ After Hip Injury

Before Billie Eilish became a globally renowned, Grammy-winning pop star, she had almost dreamed of a different career.

During an appearance on Amy Poehler's Good Hang podcast on May 5, Eilish revealed how she once had aspirations of becoming a professional dancer.

However, her teenage dream was shattered as she suffered a serious hip injury during the final rehearsal before her very first competition.

Although the incident left her bedridden for a week, Eilish said she feels fortunate that the moment ultimately changed her life.

Speaking with Amy Poehler on her Good Hang podcast, Eilish recalled the major accident she had while rehearsing for her first dance competition.

“I have a solo in each combo. I was so excited. We were done with rehearsal. We were about to leave. And our teacher was like, ‘Wait, let's do one more just to film it,'” she recalled.

“And so we did one more, and we filmed it, and in the middle of my little twerk — literally 12 years old — my hip is like [pops out], and I got injured,” she added.

She said the injury left her “lying on the floor” unable to walk or dance, effectively ending her dancing career.

“Definitely couldn't do anything and was basically like bedridden for at least a week, and then I was on crutches, and I literally never danced again,” she said.

However, the incident also coincided with the time when she and her brother released Ocean Eyes on SoundCloud, which brought widespread attention to her music.

“Then that week I went to all these meetings in my crutches. Met with Interscope [Records], I met with all these different booking agents, I had my crutches, and I was so sad,” Eilish said.

But looking on the bright side, she said, “When you think something is ruining your life, and it's really actually saving your life.”

Speaking with Vogue, the singer recalled hating herself and developing a negative relationship with her own body, as if her “body was gaslighting” her.

“Going through my teenage years of hating myself and all that stupid sh-t, a lot of it came from my anger toward my body, and how mad I was at how much pain it’s caused me, and how much I’ve lost because of things that happened to it,” Eilish recalled.

“I got injured right after we made ‘Ocean Eyes’ [in 2015], so music kind of replaced dancing.”

While she eventually found a great movement coach in Kristina Cañizares, she still “felt like my body was gaslighting me for years.”

Eilish added, “I had to go through a process of being like, My body is actually me. And it’s not out to get me.” Now, although the hip injury ended her dancing career, Eilish still incorporates dance moves onstage, whenever possible.