Billie Eilish’s mum hits out at ‘nepo baby’ criticism after people found out about singer's family history

Billie Eilish’s mum has claimed she and her husband are ‘working class’ and that her daughter’s success is not a result of being a ‘nepo’ baby.

Hollywood has set its sight on a number of nepo babies over the last few decades, including the likes of Timothée Chalamet, George Clooney and Jennifer Aniston.

But it turns out that despite rumours, Billie Eilish is not part of that list.

Her mum claims the pair have become successful in their own right. (Dave Benett/Getty Images)

Billie's mum, Maggie Baird, did star in a 1999 episode of hit sitcom Friends, but she claims that there was more to the story than people think.

She spoke with Glamour magazine for this year's Women of the Year issue to talk about how ridiculous she found the claims.

She said: "I think it’s hilarious. Because that came out, and it was like, 'Oh, Billie is a nepo baby'.

"And I’m like, 'Did you know that I got that episode of Friends because I was about to lose my health insurance?'"

She added: "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.

"So when all of this happened to our kids, we’d never been on that side of it."

There's no escaping the fact that Baird starred in films throughout her career, but it's clear that the bulk of her roles were never lead characters.

Both her mum and dad played small roles in films throughout their careers. (Gilbert Flores/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images)

She explained: "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."

In 2013, she released her own film starring Billie's brother Finneas to show her children that you can make your own success.

The mum-of-two said: "In 2012, I decided to make a movie.

"I wrote the movie with a friend, and I did a Kickstarter for the money.

"And the reason I did it was because I wanted to show my kids that you could make something happen.

"You don’t have to wait for somebody to say yes to you. You can just make it happen."

She added: "That probably had nothing to do with what happened because that success was all them.

"But I do think it’s important.

"I think it’s important that as you are hoping your children go much farther than you, you still have your own life.

"You can still do; you can create. It’s equally important."

Billie's dad Patrick once shared the spotlight too, after staring in the first Iron Man movie as a reporter.