Madonna has defenced Billie Eilish in a new interview.

• READ MORE: Billie Eilish – ‘Happier Than Ever’ review: an artist secures her status as a generational great

Madonna was speaking to Elle, on which Eilish is this month’s cover star, about Eilish’s change of look for her new ‘Happier Than Ever’ album era.

Madonna said: “The problem is, we still live in a very sexist world where women are put into categories.”

“You’re either in the virgin category or the whore category. Billie started off in a non-sexualized category, not pandering to the masses and not using her sexuality in any way, which is her choice and God bless her for that — after all, she’s been a teenager all this time.”

“Women should be able to portray themselves in any way they want. If Billie were a man, no one would be writing about this.

“A man can show up dressed in a suit and tie for the first three years of his career, and then the next month he could be dressed like Prince or Mick Jagger, shirt off, wearing eyeliner, and no one would say a word.”

Madonna also went on to compare it to her own experience when she posted a picture of herself in a corset on Instagram.

“People hold on to these memories and have an attachment. But it’s very dehumanising,” Madonna said. “I lost 100,000 followers, just because of the boobs. People are scared of big boobs.”

Meanwhile,Eilish debuted three ‘Happier Than Ever’ songs during her headline set at Life Is Beautiful festival in Las Vegas earlier this week.

She performed ‘I Didn’t Change My Number’, ‘NDA’ and ‘Therefore I Am’ for the first time – you can check out NME‘s photo review of the event here.