Billie Eilish branded a ‘nepo baby’ by fans after her mum was spotted in an old Friends episode
Billie Eilish fans have accused her of being a ‘nepo baby’ after spotting her mum Maggie Baird in an old sitcom episode from the 90s.
Baird appeared in an episode of Friends in 1999, appearing in the season six episode titled The One Where Joey Loses His Insurance as casting director number two.
During the episode, Joey (Matt LeBlanc) is auditioning for a dog food commercial in front of Baird but because he has a hernia and no health insurance to sort it out, he finds it difficult to pick up a bag of dog food as the script instructs.
The casting director is not impressed when Joey then suggests he can just point to it, and Joey realises he won’t be getting the gig.
The episode aired two years before Eilish was born, but her brother Finneas O’Connell was two years old at the time.
A clip of Baird’s appearance in the episode was posted to an Instagram account called @theonewiththefriendsclips, alongside the the caption: “Did you know that Billie Eilish’s mom, Maggie Baird, appeared on the show Friends?”
Fans quickly commented that this must mean that Billie Eilish is a nepo baby as her parents had connections in the film and entertainment industry. Nepo baby, short for nepotism baby, is a term referring to people whose parents have succeeded in similar or related careers.
However, O’Connell defended his family against the allegations, commenting: “Ah yes, the classic, one day of work on one episode of Friends to make someone rich and famous – the whole gag of this video is none of you had any idea at all who she was.”
Both Maggie Baird and Eilish’s father Patrick O’Connell have appeared in a number of shows and films but only playing small roles.
Baird has also appeared in The X Files, Charmed, and Bones while the elder O’Connell has appeared in Iron Man and The West Wing.
In a previous interview with Rolling Stone, O’Connell said he and Baird were “mostly unemployed” actors who put their careers on hold in order to raise their children.
In the same feature, Eilish said of her parents: “Acting is super weird. You can work for years and years and be the best in the world and never get a role, and you can be mediocre, do one audition, and become a huge star. 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.”
Recently, Eilish became the first LGBTQ+ musician to surpass 100 million monthly listeners on Spotify, and has won two Oscars for her music composed alongside her brother.
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