She’s so well known for being the ‘strange’ girl, dressing and acting differently to everyone else in the world, particularly her family. Is this because Billie Eilish was adopted?
Billie Eilish was not adopted. She was born to her parents, Patrick and Maggie, in 2001. She has an older brother who goes by the name of Finneas O’Connell, and they’re definitely all related by blood.
Read more below about Billie Eilish’s family and her upbringing in Los Angeles.
Nature vs. Nurture
As she was growing up, her parents showered Billie and her brother with love, affection and encouragement. While they weren’t particularly wealthy, they did anything they could to advance the abilities and desires of the siblings, helping them to learn how to play musical instruments, and sending them for dance classes and choir attendances.
In one article, Eilish admitted that her parents never said they were proud of her, but that may have been a simple tactic to drive them to accomplish more – this is something Billie herself understood well. The choice obviously worked, as Billie Eilish had a net worth of six million dollars by the age of just eighteen.
The parents – Patrick and Maggie – opted to homeschool the children, affording them the opportunity to spend as much time as possible learning about their passions – music, and art. This would have undoubtedly led to deeper bonding opportunities, as the time the family would have spent together was far above the average for most teenagers.
While Billie herself may be leagues beyond her family in terms of style, fashion and attitude, the familial bond is certainly noticeable. She might dress and behave in a very strange way, but she’s caring and soft at heart, and puts her family before anything else.
You can see a video of Billie Eilish and her family talk about their music production process here.
No Sibling Rivalry
It’s a common theme in many mediums to have siblings fight like cats and dogs. There have been many movies or TV shows in which siblings – particularly boy-girl partnerships – do not get along, and behave like chalk and cheese. It’s a tactic employed by certain shows such as Big Bang Theory, in which the main character, Sheldon Cooper, has a dismissive and (revealed by in-show dialogue) somewhat abusive relationship with his older biological sister, Missy.
Billie Eilish and her biological brother, Finneas O’Connell, have well and truly bucked that trend. They have been inseparable since a young age, undertaking many of their extra-curricular activities (such as dancing) together. It was in fact Finneas who worked tirelessly in mixing, editing and creating Billie Eilish’s earliest tracks.
Finneas, while not as successful as Billie, has an artistic streak of his own. He’s appeared as an actor in several roles and has produced his own independent music. He’s worked with Billie both on stage and in directing a number of music videos.
In fact, the song ‘everything i wanted’ was directed by the duo, and shows them driving in Billie’s own car (a Dodge Challenger) along a highway, and right into a body of water. This was supposed to be a depiction of the love the siblings had for each other, and an example of the lengths they’d go to in staying close.
If that’s not a deep, familial link by blood, then nothing is.
The connection between the family as a whole resonates on the musical scene as well. Eilish has explained that her parents also join the sibling duo on tour: her father is part of the crew and her mother works as her assistant. So, not only is this Billie’s biological family, but it’s also the people who help her bring her talent to the world.