Billie Eilish’s Mother On Her Kids Being Called Nepo Babies, ‘People Don’t Really Understand’

Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell might be chart-toppers in the music world, but they still can’t escape the “nepo baby” label. Their mother, actress Maggie Baird, isn’t having it! In a recent interview with Glamour for this year’s Women of the Year edition, Baird boldly countered claims that her daughter had an easy ride thanks to nepotism, shedding light on the hard work and talent behind their success.

This discussion gained momentum after a clip of Baird’s cameo in a 1999 episode of Friends resurfaced online. In the scene, she plays a casting director who assists Matt LeBlanc’s character, Joey Tribbiani, in preparing for an audition.

In response to the ongoing discussions, Baird said, “I think it’s hilarious. Because that came out, and it was like, ‘Oh, Billie is a nepo baby. And I’m like, ‘Did you know that I got that episode of Friends because I was about to lose my health insurance?’”

Calling herself and Eilish’s father, Patrick O’Connell “working-class actors,” she added, “We eked out a meagre living, which allowed us to spend a lot of time with our kids, which was fantastic. But the industry is primarily people like us or even people not even like us who couldn’t even do that. So when all of this happened to our kids, we’d never been on that side of it. I think that people don’t really understand there’s a whole industry of people who are creative and they’re working and they’re struggling, and they make perfectly happy lives, and they feel creative, and they feel fulfilled. But that’s a very different life than on this side of the door where you’re suddenly playing in this different arena.”

These remarks come months after Billie Eilish’s brother, Finneas O’Connell, also reacted to the nepotism comments. After producing his sister’s multi-platinum debut album and records as a solo artist, he received quite a backlash as many accused O’Connell of downplaying his privilege. In response to the same, he in a now-deleted tweet said, “During my lifetime, our parents were never able to fully financially support us off of their work as actors. Our dad worked 12-hour days 7 days a week as a construction worker for Mattel and our mom was a teacher. Our parents gave us love but knew no one in the record industry,” as quoted by Business Insider.