Who Is Billie Eilish’s Mom, Maggie Baird?
She’s more famous than you think.
getty images Grammy winner Billie Eilish seemingly became a household name overnight.
So who raised this crazy kid to be so successful? Turns out she’s not the only member of the family to step into the spotlight.
Most people know that her brother Finneas co-writes her songs, but do they know who helped raise this girl to be the star she’s become?
Who is Billie Eilish's mom, Maggie Baird?
Along with Baird, Eilish's dad is actor Patrick O’Connell, making both of Billie Eilish's parents famous.
It turns out there are good reasons Maggie was just the right person to help steer Billie as she navigates her new, huge career.
1. Maggie Baird is a former actress and singer.
Maggie Baird, it turns out, is an actress, a singer, and a songwriter born on March 29, 1959, who’s taught improv as well as aerial fitness.
If you’ve played the video games Mass Effect or EverQuest (or half a dozen more), you’ll definitely recognize her voice. She’s also guest-starred on a ton of TV shows, like Bones, Everwood, Six Feet Under, The West Wing and Charmed, among others, and released an album called We Sail.
And yes, Billie Eilish's mom was in Friends.
2. She homeschooled her famous and successful children.
The idea came from her husband Patrick, who was blown away when Hanson’s “MMMBop” came out the same year Finneas was born. He was impressed by how they’d been allowed to pursue their own interests, and brought up the idea of homeschooling the kids. But it was Maggie who taught them.
Finneas and Billie were both pretty happy about it, and didn't feel like they were missing out on anything. Finneas said at the time, “It’s something that I’ve really enjoyed and thrived under. I’m not at a high school where I have to base my self-worth off what other people think of me.”
3. She worked with pretty famous people before her daughter became a star.
In her acting days, Maggie put in some time with the famous improv/sketch comedy troupe The Groundlings in Los Angeles. While she was there, she taught and performed with celebs like Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig, and Melissa McCarthy … in fact, she was McCarthy's first improv teacher.
4. She’s also a filmmaker.
Maggie starred in the independent film Life Inside Out, which she also co-wrote. Finneas was in it, too, playing her son.
The story for the movie was inspired by events in her own life and premiered at the Heartland Film Festival competition in 2013. It went to dozens of more festivals after that and won 15 different awards.
5. She didn’t conceive Billie naturally.
Billie didn't know this until very recently.
In 2019, at the end of his interview with Billie and Finneas, Howard Stern asked her parents to come in and join them.
In his usual way, he brought the conversation around to sex, asking about Billie’s conception: “We all want to know how to produce a Billie Eilish.” That’s when the shoe dropped — for the first time. (And, no, Billie Eilish was not adopted).
“Billie was conceived with the existence of a fertility clinic,” Maggie told him. Maggie and Patrick even joked about how Patrick was “alone in a dark room” during conception.
Howard asked Billie if she'd known that before, and she said no! Yep, that was the first she’d heard of it.
6. Maggie works for her daughter now.
Now that Billie and Finneas are both successful, Maggie has her work cut out for her. She goes on tour as her daughter’s assistant but she’s basically like a chief of staff, and a manager of sorts … but without the commission. S
he’s also the person who first taught the kids how to write songs, so she’s obviously just the right person to have on hand now that their careers are soaring.
7. She was a criminal once … by accident.
When the kids were smaller, they had some rather strange neighbors. Maggie used to see one neighbor carrying garbage bags to and from the house. One day he asked her for help moving a safe. She had no idea what was in the safe she was helping move and right after she put it in her minivan, the FBI, Customs and Homeland Security pulled up! Turned out the neighbors were money launderers.
Eventually, the Baird-O’Connell family bought the house after it went up for sale and found out that the previous owners never got the money — it was immediately seized by the FBI.
Laurie Ulster is a freelance writer and TV producer.