Latest news with #MaggieBaird
Daily Mirror
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Chart-topping star urged to get therapy over unlikely obsession
US pop sensation Billie Eilish has won seven Grammy Awards and sold millions of albums - but she was raised in a modest bungalow in LA by actor parents Maggie Baird and Patrick O'Connell With song and dance playing a key part in her life from the moment she could talk, Billie's chosen career path was not entirely surprising. 'Music was always underlying,' she once said. 'I always sang. It was like wearing underwear. It was just always underneath whatever else you were doing.' Billie was born in LA on 18 December 2001 to actor-musician parents Maggie Baird and Patrick O'Connell, who called her Billie to honour her grandfather William. Eilish was her middle name – a popular Irish choice – along with Pirate, which older brother Finneas affectionately called her before her birth. She wasn't always entirely happy about it though, admitting in a recent interview, 'I absolutely hated my name when I was a kid. I thought Billie was a boy's name. I remember just being so mad, and all I wanted was to have a girly name, like Violet or like Lavender. Some sort of, you know, pretty flowery name.' However, it grew on her and she added, 'Now there's no other name in the universe that could be my name besides Billie. I love my name so, so, so much.' Her mum Maggie, now 66, had TV roles in The X Files, Bones and Curb Your Enthusiasm, as well as a cameo in Friends, while dad Patrick, 67, spent time on Broadway and appeared in The West Wing and NYPD Blue. But in a fiercely competitive industry, work was often hard for the two jobbing actors to come by. 'For years, I saw my parents beat up over the fact that they didn't have it better,' Billie has said. '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.' As a unit of four who loved performing together, former music teacher Maggie has said, 'There was just always singing. Someone playing piano or guitar, lots of lullabies at night and always music in the car.' That meant Billie's songwriting journey began exceptionally early. 'When I was four, I wrote a song about falling into a black hole,' she recalled. 'But it was really upbeat, like, 'I'm going down, down, down into the black hole.'' She also learned to play the ukelele aged six, and started performing at local talent shows and with the Los Angeles Children's Chorus. Influenced by her parents, she tried her hand at acting too, but found it less enjoyable. 'I went to an audition and I came back going, 'I hate this. I'm not doing this ever again.'' Both she and Finneas were homeschooled, which Billie believes was highly beneficial to her development. 'I learned how to do math by cooking with my mom,' she said. 'I learned, like, how to build sh*t from my dad.' Explaining their decision to educate their children themselves, Patrick said, 'Our whole stance was 'general knowledge is all'.' Home was a two-bedroom, one-bathroom bungalow in the Highland Park area of LA – which her parents still live in. To ensure both their children had their own rooms, they even slept in the living room. 'It was a modest upbringing,' says Thomas Smith, editor of Billboard UK. 'She was certainly not a nepo baby, and doors were not opened for her in the same way they have been for other artists. But so much time together in that house created an incredible bond between them all, and a support system that has served Billie well throughout her life.' She returned to the house in a 2019 episode of Carpool Karaoke, pointing out her 'very red' bedroom, as well as her pet tarantula, which she insisted was 'cute' to horrified presenter James Corden. Viewers got a peek inside Finneas' bedroom too, which doubled up as a recording studio. 'This is the belly of the beast,' Billie said. The room still even had pencil markings on the door frame which had tracked the pair's height as youngsters. One of Billie's biggest influences in her early years was singer Justin Bieber, whose face adorned the walls of her small bedroom. In fact, she was such an ardent 'Belieber' that her parents nearly sought professional help for her around the time of his 2012 hit, As Long As You Love Me. Speaking on Billie and Patrick's Apple Music show Me & Dad Radi o, Maggie told how her daughter would be 'sobbing and sobbing' to the song in the car. 'I just want to say we did consider taking you to therapy,' she told Billie. 'You were in so much pain over Justin Bieber.' In response, her daughter admitted, 'There was a period where I cried every single day of my life.' As well as her Bieber crush, another source of distress was a serious hip injury she suffered at the age of 13, which ended her dancing aspirations. 'My bone separated from my muscle in my hip. It was really bad,' she said. 'Going through my teenage years, hating myself and all that stupid sh*t, a lot of it came from my anger toward my body, and how mad I was at how much pain it's caused me, and how much I've lost because of things that happened to it.' However, Billie began channelling her emotions into making music with Finneas, and when her dance teacher asked her to record a track in late 2015, she jumped at the chance. 'He asked us to make a song and I thought that was the coolest thing ever,' she said. The result was Ocean Eyes, an astonishingly mature ballad that compared falling in love to falling off a cliff under 'napalm skies'. Finneas had originally written it for his band, The Slightlys, but realised it was better suited to his sister's vocals. 'I remember doing Ocean Eyes as a band and just being like, 'I'm failing the song,'' he said. 'And I remember hearing Billie sing it... And it was just like, 'Oh, this is what this song deserves.'' Aged just 13 at the time, Billie posted the song on music-sharing platform SoundCloud, and the next morning woke up to a flurry of interest. 'It just grew from there,' she said. 'It was really confusing. I didn't understand what was going on. I literally thought it was like my popular friend had reposted it. 'Wow, it's getting so many listens!'' It notched up 1,000 listens in one day and hundreds of thousands more over the next fortnight. Billie later premiered a video for it on her YouTube channel. 'That song is the reason I have the life I have,' she later reflected. ' Ocean Eyes was just a classic song,' says Thomas. 'It's one of those numbers that has travelled through time and still sounds fresh today, because the craft and the lyrics were just perfect. And for Billie, it was the start of something amazing.'
Daily Mail
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Billie Eilish fans left 'gobsmacked' after discovering who her parents are as they claim 'I thought she looked familiar'
Billie Eilish fans have been left stunned after discovering she has famous parents -leading them to ask if she is a ' nepo baby '. The 23-year-old singer, who is widely considered one of the biggest pop stars in the world, isn't just the only famous person in her family. Billie found fame in the music industry at just fourteen years old and has gone on to win an impressive collection of Grammy, BRITs and Billboard awards. However, diehard fans have only just realised both her parents are successful actors, having starred in some of the biggest movies and TV shows. Billie's mum Maggie Baird previously held a role in Friends, all the way back in 1999 before she was even born. She appeared in season six, episode four which was titled 'The One Where Joey Loses His Insurance'. It saw Maggie play a casting director, in which Joey (Matt Le Blance) auditions for a part in front of her. Joey needed the role in order to cover his medical expenses, after sustaining a painful hernia. Unfortunately for the bachelor, he didn't succeed in securing the part. Maggie, 66, has also starred in 1989 thriller An Innocent Man, while other acting credits include The X Files, Six Feet Under and Bones. Meanwhile, Billie's father Patrick O'Connell is also a star in his own right, having been cast in the 2008 Iron Man movie. He's also appeared in The West Wing, Life Inside Out, Baskets and Hunter. Fans flooded social media with comments, gobsmacked at the discovery, with one writing: 'Both of her parents are actors.' Another simply asked: 'So Billie is a Nepo Baby?' Fans flooded social media with comments, gobsmacked at the discovery, with one writing: 'Both of her parents are actors' While one specifically addressed Maggie's Friends appearance, writing: 'I literally just watched this episode and now feeling annoyed that I didn't notice this.' A fourth said: 'HOLY S**T I THOUGHT SHE LOOKED FAMILIAR!' Billie's older brother Finneas, 27, has also built a successful career for himself, working as a record producer. Billie isn't afraid to push fashion boundaries and is known for her quirky style and different hair colours. The singer, who has three albums to her name, is currently on a huge world tour which will be hitting the UK this month and includes a six-night run at London's O2 Arena. She has a sensational nine Grammy wins under her belt, as well as four BRIT Awards and two Oscars, all earned after less than a decade in the industry. Recently, Billie and actor Nat Wolff, 30, finally confirmed to the public that they are romantically involved with one another after rampant speculation. The pair were seen kissing on a balcony during an outing in Venice, Italy last month in images published by Deux Moi, after denying they were in a romance with one another. The nine-time Grammy winner was seen snapping selfies with her new beau as she donned a striped green polo shirt with her black locks down.
Telegraph
15-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Billie Eilish: It's tough being a woman
Eilish shot to fame in 2019 with her debut album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? which topped the UK Albums Chart. She has since released two further albums and become a household name. 'I had no idea [when I was younger] that I was doing anything fearlessly,' she told Vogue. 'When I would hear people comment that I was only 16 and not fitting in with the stereotype – that I was a rebel or whatever – I remember being really confused because I didn't see it that way. 'I just felt like I was doing what I thought was cool. I was not intentionally trying to break any mould or rules or change music. I kind of just stayed true to what I liked and what I wanted. 'But the older I get, there really have been many periods of doubt and fear and feeling so much pressure, and then when more people knew me, more people had something to say. 'It was hard to remember to trust myself or even believe in myself sometimes. It's still a process. I think I'm doing pretty good. I've also always been very strong-willed and very much myself, so I do think that plays a part.' The California-born singer is the daughter of American actress Maggie Baird and sang the theme song for the 2021 James Bond film No Time To Die.
Associated Press
17-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Maggie Baird and Dejea Lyons Headlined Captain Planet Foundation's Annual Benefit Gala, Atlanta's Largest Environmental Fundraiser, on March 15
ATLANTA, March 17, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Atlanta-based global nonprofit Captain Planet Foundation ( held its annual Benefit Gala, one of the Southeast's largest eco-benefits, March 15 at Flourish Atlanta, recognizing environmental heroes Maggie Baird, Dejea Lyons, and Steve Koonin. The charitable event recognized extraordinary environmental change-making and has raised more than $11 million over 13 years for the Foundation's mission to engage and empower young people to be problem-solvers for the planet. Maggie Baird, mother of musicians Billie Eilish and Finneas and founder of nonprofit Support+Feed, received the Superhero for Earth award. Support+Feed works with restaurants, farmers, and nonprofits to fight food insecurity by providing plant-based food options across 11 U.S. cities, including a recent expansion to Atlanta. Dejea Lyons is a leader of the youth-led environmental nonprofit Protect Our Future, which prevented a Carnival Cruise port from destroying the reef off of George Town in her home in the Cayman Islands. Dejea received the Young Superhero for Earth award. Steve Koonin is CEO of the Atlanta Hawks and State Farm Arena, the world's first TRUE Platinum certified and zero waste sports and live entertainment venue. Steve received the Superhero for Earth Exemplar award; Sofi Armenakian, head of sustainable strategy for Hawks/State Farm Arena, accepted on his behalf. 'Green carpet' arrivals included comedian and actor Chris Tucker, former Atlanta Falcon Ovie Mughelli, and CPF chair emeritus Laura Turner Seydel. WSB-TV anchor Jorge Estevez emceed. Guests mingled with celebrities and civic leaders, bid on live and silent auction items featuring one-of-a-kind trips and eco-luxury experiences, and enjoyed a cocktail reception and dinner. Visionary Sponsor: Delta Air Lines. Guardian sponsors: The Atlantan/Modern Luxury; Turner Enterprises, Inc.; and Warner Bros. Discovery. Hero sponsors: Atlanta Hawks, Cox Enterprises; Eunjae Kim and Arturo Peralta-Ramos Charitable Trust; Genuine Parts Company; Georgia Natural Gas; Jane Smith Turner Foundation; Isdell Family Foundation; Kellogg Garden Products; Emma Cecil & Bilal Malik, Ginair & George McKerrow; Cat & Parrish Owens; Randy Rudderman, M.D., FACS; Pat Mitchell and Scott Seydel; and Voya Financial. Gala co-chairs: Eunjae Kim Peralta-Ramos, Clark Seydel, Pat Mitchell and Scott Seydel, Emma Cecil and Bilal Malik. Over the past 34 years, more than 1.7 million children have directly participated in CPF's programs, which have funded more than 3,700 projects, impacting 11.4 million young people around the globe. CPF was formed in 1991 and was based on the critically acclaimed animated series 'Captain Planet and the Planeteers,' co-founded by media mogul Ted Turner and series executive producer Barbara Pyle. More information:
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Maggie Baird, mother of Billie Eilish, receives environmental award at gala event
ATLANTA (AP) — Maggie Baird, mother of chart-topping musicians Billie Eilish and Finneas, received the Superhero for Earth award Saturday from the Captain Planet Foundation at a gala event. Baird is the founder of the nonprofit Support + Feed, which works on food insecurity and environmental issues. Her group has an anchor presence in 11 U.S. cities and expanded partnerships in Europe, the United Kingdom and Australia. Baird told The Associated Press that she has been working on these issues for years, though her message is now amplified with the additional voices of her Grammy-winning children. 'People need food. People need food every day and our climate is really in trouble and we've got to address our food systems,' Baird said. 'As we work on our larger goals, we have these beautiful daily wins where we get to support people in just their struggle to just survive.' The Atlanta-based nonprofit Captain Planet Foundation works with young people on environmental issues around the world, supporting school gardens and other initiatives. More than 1.7 million children have participated in programs. The foundation was formed in 1991 and co-founded by media mogul Ted Turner. 'I really admire this organization, Captain Planet, and I really appreciate their shining a light on what we do at Support + Feed — and to me that's really what matters,' Baird said.
