Although Debbie Harry wasn’t modest about her looks and even famously stated, ‘being hot never hurts;’ it seemed that even the Blondie frontwoman had her insecurities when it came to her beauty.
Harry was speaking with Daily Mail in 2010, when she revealed her biggest insecurity about herself, sharing how she’d had self-deprecating thoughts growing up. The rocker said:
“I hated the way I looked growing up. I had this blonde hair, pale-blue eyes, and these jutting cheekbones. I didn’t look like any other kids I grew up with, and I felt very uncomfortable about my face. I hated looking in mirrors and I definitely didn’t think I was pretty.”
Still, although she had her insecurities, Debbie also revealed how she’d used them to her advantage:
“That [self-deprecating] attitude sort of worked for me in rock ‘n’ roll. I got into bands and I started getting attention for my looks but I’d never valued them. I didn’t act like the traditional girl in the boys’ band. I was one of the band.”
The rocker continued, sharing how ‘weird’ she felt when people started to praise her looks:
“I wore leather trousers; I didn’t do the cute pretty thing. It was weird for me when my looks started to get such attention but I never got sidetracked by that. For me, it was all about being rated as a musician.”
Debbie, with her drive to focus on making music rather than selling her looks to the audience, has been a role model for many female rockers, including Talking Heads’ Tina Weymouth. You can check out here to read all about how Weymouth chose Harry as an idol and what the Blondie singer’s ‘utmost’ advice for her was.
