Halsey revealed Saturday that she once considered sex work as a way of putting food on her table.
“When I was living in New York, I was a teenager. My friends were picking out decorations for their dorms, and I was debating on whether or not I should let a stranger inside me so I could pay for my next meal,” the pop star shared Ending Youth Homelessness: A Benefit For My Friend’s Place.
“It wasn’t because I did something bad, it wasn’t because something was wrong with me, and it wasn’t because my parents didn’t love me, ‘cause they did, very much. But a series of unfortunate circumstances led me to be in that position and it can happen to absolutely anyone.”
MORE: BTS Teases "Boy With Luv" Video Featuring Halsey
Halsey, who has identified as bisexual, pointed out that a significant percentage of homeless youth are LGBTQ. “Many of them have been ostracized from their families and from their communities,” she said. “This means that they have a harder time getting access to health care, to legal services, to education, to mental health services… which makes it all the more difficult for them.”
Halsey has previously spoken about how she was kicked out of her family’s New Jersey house after dropping out of college.
On Sunday, Halsey showed up in a teaser released by K-pop group BTS for “Boy With Luv,” a video debuting April 12 from their new album Map of the Soul: Persona.