Halsey Got into Miniature Doll-Housing While She Was Sick Because 'Fine Motor Skills Were Not Great'

Halsey picked up a unique hobby while battling her illness.

In a cover story interview with PAPER magazine published on Thursday, Sept. 5., the pop star — who uses she/they pronouns — shared that she "got into miniature doll-housing" after she fell ill with the rare T-cell lymphoproliferative disorder, as well as lupus SLE.

Halsey said, "It was something I could do inside, and it was something I could do that was creative, and it was something quiet that I could do when my son [Ender, 3] was asleep."

She continued to say that she could not go outside and socialize with her disease, so she picked up the new hobby – which ended up helping her sharpen her worsening motor function.

"My fine motor skills were not great. When I was sick, I couldn’t even open an envelope, or peel a sticker off a thing; it required me to be focused and meticulous with my fine motor action, which I really wanted to retain," the singer said.

They added: "I knew if I started playing music again, I wanted to be able to play piano and guitar. I couldn’t practice either while my kid was asleep at night, so I was doing doll housing, and I just got so obsessed with it. I started building furniture from scratch, and then making my own wallpaper."

Halsey explained that building the dollhouses allowed her to escape her own reality. "I guess it’s actually kind of dark when you think about it, because I was making these tiny parallel worlds, because I really didn’t want to be on my own, which is so heady," she said.

While battling her illness, the singer fell into a poor mental state and had low self-confidence.

"I just felt really f---ing ugly the whole time I was sick. I could not look at myself. I didn’t look in a mirror, unless I was putting a contact lens in my eye, for months. I was just unrecognizable," she said. "I didn’t like looking at myself. It was horrific, and it would spin me out, and just sitting there and playing with these beautiful tiny things was so much nicer. "

Halsey noted that when it came to her other hobbies, like writing poetry or painting, people often try to convince her to "monetize it or exploit it," whereas she felt that her dollhouses were truly hers.

"Doll-housing was making something and putting all this time into it for nobody to see it, and not have it belong to the world, just because. I loved it so much. My son’s getting a bit older now, and he’s starting to get into Legos. I’m like, great, let’s get into Legos," she said, referring to her son Ender Ridley, whom she shares with her ex Alev Aydin.

Halsey’s fifth studio album The Great Impersonator is set to release on Oct. 25 after being announced last month. The decades-spanning trailer depicts the singer confessing, "I really thought this album would be the last one I ever made."

Back in June, the "Colors" singer revealed she was diagnosed with a form of lupus and T-cell lymphoproliferative disorder after releasing the first single "The End" from their upcoming album.

"In 2022, I was first diagnosed with Lupus SLE and then a rare T-cell lymphoproliferative disorder. Both of which are currently being managed or in remission; and both of which I will likely have for the duration of my life," she said at the time. 

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In the lead-up to her new album, the songwriter has dropped three singles total, including "Lucky" and  "Lonely Is the Muse." A fourth single, “Ego,” was released on Friday, Sept. 6. 

Earlier this week, the singer said that she recorded the album "in the space between life and death" as she announced the cover art and release date. "And it feels like I’ve waited an eternity for you to have it. I’ll wait a bit longer. I’ve waited a decade, already," she wrote.