By Megan Riedlinger
5:34am PST, Dec 17, 2020
Happy birthday, Billie Eilish! The talented singer turns 19 on Dec. 18, 2020, and in honor of her birthday, Wonderwall.com is rounding up some facts you might not know about the star. Keep reading to find out a few tidbits you might not know (but should!) about Billie…
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Billie Eilish has a unique name — but her full name is even more interesting! She was born Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell, so Eilish is actually her middle name — as are Pirate and Baird, which is her mother's maiden name.
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Her parents are both in the entertainment industry! Billie Eilish's mother, Maggie Baird, was an actress who appeared on the soap opera "Another World" and on shows like "Bones" and "The X-Files." She's also been a voice actor. Billie's father, Patrick O'Connell, was also an actor who had small roles in "Iron Man" and on television's "The West Wing." He, too, has done voice work in the past.
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She got bit by the music bug young! Billie Eilish started singing with the Los Angeles Children's Chorus at 8. From there, she ventured into songwriting at 11. Of her affinity for singing at a young age, she told Vogue, "I sang so much that my family had to shush me."
Winner, winner! Billie Eilish took home five Grammy Awards at the 2020 Grammys. She scored four for her debut album "When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?" and its hits single "Bad Guy" as well as best new artist. It was quite the feat: At 18, in her first year being nominated, she became the youngest person to win in the top four categories: record, song and album of the year plus best new artist.
Billie Eilish's main collaborator is her brother! Finneas O'Connell helps Billie write and produce her music. Aside from helping out his sister, Finneas also makes solo music and has appeared on "Glee," "Aquarius" and "Modern Family."
Billie Eilish has Tourette's syndrome. The star opened up about it on Instagram, explaining she was diagnosed with the neurological disorder but "never mentioned it on the internet," adding, "I've just never wanted people to think of [Tourette's] every time they think of me." She later told talk show host Ellen DeGeneres that opening up helped her better connect with her fans. "I also really learned that a lot of my fans have it, which made me feel kind of more at home with saying it, and also I felt like there was a connection there," she explained.
Billie Eilish is obsessed with "The Office." The star often talks about her love for the '00s sitcom in interviews. She even managed to slide in an homage to the show in her song "My Strange Addiction." She opens the tune with dialogue from a 2011 season 7 episode titled "Threat Level Midnight" then uses it again during the interludes. She told MTV News she and her brother added it on their own using "audio from Netflix" and that it fit because "…it's about strange addictions, and 'The Office' is mine."
She has a celebrity crush just like the rest of us. Billie fessed up to being in love with Justin Bieber when she was 12, telling Los Angeles radio station KROQ, "That was like, my first love. That was the person I was in love with, in my head he was in love with me, it was like a relationship with a person." The two stars finally met at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in 2019.
Ever wondered why Billie Eilish picked her peculiar Instagram handle? She decided to be @wherearetheavocados on the social media app after once yelling that question while at home while making a grilled cheese sandwich, but no one answered. So she decided to make the question her username after that.
When Billie Eilish's debut album "When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?" hit No. 1 in 2019, the feat earned her a pretty cool distinction: She became the first artist who was born in the 2000s to have a No. 1 album in America.
Known for her very unique style, Billie Eilish actually has an interesting reason for wearing baggy clothes. "Nobody can have an opinion because they haven't seen what's underneath," she explained in a Calvin Klein ad. She also uses her style to call out body shamers. In March 2020 during a Miami concert, she featured in her set a video interlude that addressed the double standards women face when it comes to body image.
Billie Eilish and brother Finneas were homeschooled, and their father has credited another pop sibling music act with the idea. He told The New York Times that it was Hanson who inspired the decision, explaining, "I was completely swept away by these kids. They were religious Oklahoma homeschooled [kids], but nonetheless. Clearly what happened was they'd been allowed to pursue the things that they were interested [in]."
Billie Eilish is the youngest star to write and record a song for a James Bond film. The flick "No Time to Die," which was originally slated for a 2020 release before the coronavirus pandemic pushed it to 2021, will feature BIllie's title track, which she performed live for the first time at the 2020 Brit Awards. She wrote it alongside brother Finneas O'Connell.
