Billie Eilish says watching porn from age 11 ‘destroyed my brain’

The singer said she suffered from nightmares after viewing the content at such a young age

Billie Eilish has opened up about the impact that watching "violent" and "abusive" pornography at the age of 11 had on her. Speaking to Howard Stern on US radio station, SiriusXM, the 19-year-old pop superstar said that the content "destroyed" her brain, and that she thought it was "how you learned about sex." She said: "I think porn is a disgrace. I used to watch a lot of porn, to be honest. I started watching porn when I was, like, 11. "I think it really destroyed my brain and I feel incredibly devastated that I was exposed to so much porn." Eilish said that watching pornography helped her feel as if she were cool and "one of the guys" for not having a problem with it. She added: "I think it really destroyed my brain and I feel incredibly devastated that I was exposed to so much porn." The singer, who turns 20 on Saturday, admitted that the content gave her nightmares because it was so violent and abusive. Related links:

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Eilish was highly critical of pornography, telling Stern that she now think it "is a disgrace" for the way it can depict women's bodies and sexual experiences, and that it is a "real problem" that porn can affect people's understandings of what is normal during sex, particularly surrounding issues of consent. The pop star explained that because she was exposed to porn at such a young age she ended up "not saying no to things that were not good" when she first started having sex because she thought that was "what I was supposed to be attracted to." The singer added: "It’s really hard to meet people when, you know, people are either terrified of you or think you’re out of their league." In the final song on her critically acclaimed second album, Happier Than Ever, Eilish references porn, singing about using it to distract herself as she recalls a broken relationship.