A classic episode of Friends featuring a cameo by Billie Eilish's mother, Maggie Baird, recently resurfaced online and drew attention to the young music sensation’s family background.
The 65-year-old mother to Billie and her brother, Finneas O'Connell, made an appearance on the much-loved show back in 1999 before her world-famous daughter was born.
Appearing in a season 6 episode titled "The One Where Joey Loses His Insurance," Maggie portrayed Casting Director No. 2 and shared the screen with Matt LeBlanc, whose character Joey Tribbiani was suffering from a painful hernia.
Billie Eilish's mother, Maggie Baird, appeared in a 1999 episode of Friends before the What Was I Made For? singer was born
Image credits: Billie Eilish / Instagram
Image credits: Maggie May Baird / Instagram
In the memorable episode, Joey auditions for an advertisement promoting dog food. The show’s lovable goofball has lost his healthcare insurance and is desperate for the role, hoping he could use the money to afford medical care to treat his hernia.
But during the audition, Joey is wracked with pain and struggles to lift a food product, as the script directs him to.
"Or I could just point to it? Blah, blah, blah, Purina One. Point to a bag today," he suggests with a grimace.
Maggie's character, unimpressed by his performance, rejects him and adds another layer of humor and frustration to Joey's misadventures.
Matt LeBlanc's character, Joey Tribbiani, got rejected by Maggie Baird after he auditioned for a dog food advertisement
Maggie Baird's appearance in Friends is just one of her many notable television roles. She played the network news president, Ms. Carney, in a 2001 episode of the U.S. political drama The West Wing. She also guest-starred as Sharon Pearl in The X-Files.
Beyond television, Maggie has also made contributions to film. In 2013, she wrote and directed her own independent movie called Life Inside Out, in which she starred as singer-songwriter Laura Cushman Shaw.
Her on-screen son in the film was played by none other than her own son, Finneas.
The 65-year-old mother to the Grammy-winning siblings has made several onscreen appearances and even directed her own independent film, Life Inside Out
After the clip of Maggie's brief Friends appearance resurfaced, a number of people flooded the comments section and branded the Bad Guy songstress as a “nepo baby.”
“So Billie may in fact be an industry plant,” one said, while another asked, “So Billie is a Nepo Baby?”
One quipped, “Sooo…. She didn’t just came out of nowhere… she’s an industry bby.”
“Ahhh so Billie IS a nepo baby,” another said.
“The cope in the comments is great,” one wrote. “She 100% is a nepo baby. Pretending her parents don't have connections is hilarious.”
Finneas O'Connell commented on the resurfaced Friends clip and said, "The whole gag of this video is none of you had any idea at all who she was"
A number of people, including the singer’s Grammy-winning brother, came to her defense.
“Ah yes, the classic, 1 day of work on 1 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,” Finneas commented on the clip.
“not yall trying to call Billie a nepo baby because her mom was in ONE EPISODE of a hit show,” another wrote. “be so serious.”
“Shes not a nepo baby her parents wasn’t known and she didnt get famous from them maggie had a few small gigs but they were still poor and had to share a bed if people did some research they would know this,” another wrote. “billie got famous from ocean eyes after her and finneas put it in Soundcloud that was made for there dance class.”