Billie Eilish’s mom Maggie Baird finds the idea that her daughter is a “nepo baby” pretty funny — despite a resurfaced episode of “Friends” that Baird had a role in. “I think it’s hilarious. Because that came out, and it was like, ‘Oh, Billie is a nepo baby,’” she told Glamour in an interview published Thursday. “And I’m like, ‘Did you know that I got that episode of ‘Friends’ because I was about to lose my health insurance?’”
Baird added that both she and Eilish’s father are “working class actors” and added that “We eked out a meager living, and it afforded us a lot of time with our kids, which was awesome. But the industry is primarily people like us or even people not even like us who couldn’t even do that.”
Her children’s rise to fame is foreign to Baird, she added. “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.”
The interview also featured famous mothers Tina Knowles, Donna Kelce, and Mandy Teefy. Kelce described mother as “probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
“It’s so much easier to just go to work, but raising children, when they’re totally dependent on you and you’re trying to do the best you can with the limited resources that you have, it’s the most daunting task I’ve ever had to do,” she explained,
Teefy, who gave birth to her daughter Selena Gomez at 16, admitted that “I really didn’t have any idea of what to expect.” She added, “Then you have the added pressure of them under the spotlight, and they’re trying to grow and be themselves and go through what every other kid goes through, and they don’t get to do that free of judgment.”
The mothers also spoke about the moment they realized their children were gifted in their respective areas and talents. Kelce explained, “You don’t understand how your children relate to other children across the country. You know what they’re doing in your particular part of the world, but until they start getting involved in tournaments or people outside of your city, then you understand that they’re different, and you just try as a parent, I think, to support your child in whatever they love to do and just revel in it really.”
Knowles similarly shared, “I think Beyoncé was seven and her dance teacher put her in a talent show with bigger kids all the way up to high school. And I was like, ‘That’s not fair. She’s only seven!’ We had put her in dance because she was shy, and I mean, she got on that stage and commanded the stage and my husband and I were like, ‘Who is that?’ Because the confidence came in.”
You can read the entire interview at Glamour.
