Halsey apologizes for posting eating disorder pic without ‘sufficient trigger warning’

“Sorry” singer Halsey has apologized to her fans after sharing a photo many found triggering.

On Sunday, the 26-year-old took part in the viral Instagram prompt “Post a photo of…” by asking her fans what they’d like to see in her Stories. And all went well until what one fan asked to see what Halsey was like at her “lowest point.”

That’s when the hit-maker shared a photo of herself with an eating disorder. She wore only underwear in the shot that captured what she considered her lowest moment, and she captioned it, “TW: ED” and “ask for help,” along with a heart emoji.

While the “TW” stood for trigger warning, some of her fans and followers claimed that the brief warning wasn’t enough as it failed to give others an opportunity to back away from the image before seeing it. Halsey said she understood the criticisms and removed the photo from her Instagram Stories before it expired. She also took to Twitter to address the controversy.

TW: disordered eating

I am very sorry for posting a photo of myself depicting my struggle with ED without a sufficient trigger warning. I was very nervous to post it and didn’t think properly. I had positive intentions. I would never want to harm someone who shares my struggle.

— h (@halsey) December 28, 2020

“TW: disordered eating,” she began the tweet. “I am very sorry for posting a photo of myself depicting my struggle with ED without a sufficient trigger warning. I was very nervous to post it and didn’t think properly. I had positive intentions. I would never want to harm someone who shares my struggle.”

The comments that followed her message sparked a debate about the use of trigger warnings and about personal responsibility. Just one minute later, Halsey shared another tweet, this one explaining that she needed to step away from the conversation.

with that being said im gonna log off now because this has turned into something I am not emotionally equipped to handle for the time being. I hope that’s okay 🤍

— h (@halsey) December 28, 2020

“With that being said im gonna log off now because this has turned into something I am not emotionally equipped to handle for the time being,” she wrote. “I hope that’s okay.”

That combination of candor and vulnerability is nothing new to Halsey, who’s spoken openly about her health issues in the past — including during an interview with Rolling Stone last year, where she discussed her bipolar diagnosis and revealed she’d been “committed” twice since gaining fame.

“It’s been my choice,” she told the publication. “I’ve said to (my manager), ‘Hey, I’m not going to do anything bad right now, but I’m getting to the point where I’m scared that I might, so I need to go figure this out.’ It’s still happening in my body. I just know when to get in front of it.”