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Billie Eilish has become a global success in the music industry, setting records by doing things a singer as young as her has never done before. By winning two Oscars in 2022 and 2024, the 22-year-old has become quite the sensation, and it's all thanks to her supportive parents, who set the stage for the creative excellence of their children - both Billie and Finneas.
Maggie Baird and Patrick O'Connell home-schooled their children, drawing inspiration from a 90s pop band, Hanson - formed by a group of home-schooled brothers from Oklahoma. The couple wanted Billie and Finneas to follow their passion without being weighed down by their academic schedules.
Baird and O'Connell were also both amateur musicians who filled their home with musical instruments. As a result, Eilish and Finneas grew up taking classes on singing, acting, dancing, and songwriting, all of which contributed to their early taking to music.
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Finneas started writing songs when he was 12, and formed his band soon afterwards, while Billie's first song found overnight success when she was 14.
Billie Eilish's parents first met as actors in a play
Maggie Baird and Patrick O'Connell first met in 1984, while rehearsing for a play in Alaska. Thereafter, the couple dated for eleven years, before getting married in 1995. Shortly after their marriage, they welcomed son Finneas in 1997, and Billie in 2001. Billie Eilish was born through in-vitro fertilization.
Baird and O'Connell have had experience acting both on stage as well as on screen. The former began her on-screen career with small roles in soap operas like Another World and As The World Turns. She was also a member and teacher at an improv and sketch comedy school in L.A., The Groundlings. Baird also contributed to a series of video games as a voice actress.
Patrick, on the other hand, had spent considerable time working on Broadway and had also appeared in guest roles on The West Wing and NYPD Blue. After marriage, the couple settled down in a two-bedroom home in the Highland Park neighborhood of L.A.
In a 2019 interview with Rolling Stones, Billie Eilish spoke about how her parents had difficulty finding success despite their credentials, calling acting "super weird". The Ocean Eyes singer further said:
"For years I saw my parents beat up over the fact that they didn't have it better. And that drove me insane - because they were really good! My dad is the best actor I've ever seen, and my mom can do all these voices and characters - she's incredible. So I wish they'd had more recognition."
Eilish also revealed how she wanted to make a movie one day and cast her parents in it, a dream she hadn't shared with anyone. The Bad Boy singer also shares a podcast with Patrick called - Dad & Me Radio.
Maggie Baird and Patrick O'Connell are both part of Team Eilish
Billie Eilish has lived with her parents in the same house in the Highland Park neighborhood her entire life. After finding success in music, her brother Finneas moved out and purchased two homes, but Eilish stayed put with her parents.
It was in one of the rooms of the same home where Billie Eilish recorded her first album - When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
After Billie Eilish's career took off, her parents worked as part of Team Eilish, touring with her to manage everything else while the singer focused on her music. According to People, Baird manages her daily schedule, and Patrick, with his tech and carpentry skills, ensures everything runs smoothly backstage.
In December 2021, when Billie Eilish was invited as host and musical guest on Saturday Night Live, she brought her parents along. Because the singer had both roles, her parents took over the host's role and introduced Eilish as the musical guest on stage.
The couple was captured wearing black sweatshirts, with a picture of Billie on Baird's sweatshirt, followed by "Billie's Mom" written below.
In March 2024, both Billie Eilish's parents attended the 96th Academy Awards with Finneas and her, and were in the audience as they proudly watched their children receive a standing ovation for their performance on the soon-to-be Oscar-winning song, What Was I Made For?
