A new Glamour feature shared yesterday (October 3) put the spotlight on mothers of some of today’s biggest stars: Tina Knowles (mother of Beyoncé and Solange), Donna Kelce (Jason and Travis Kelce), Maggie Baird (Billie Eilish and Finneas), and Mandy Teefey (Selena Gomez). During the conversation, Baird went ahead and addressed something she hears sometimes: Due to her history with acting, Eilish and Finneas are apparently nepo babies.
Baird’s filmography features some big-name shows, like Walker, Texas Ranger, The X-Files, and Friends. But, she describes herself as a “working class actor,” not the kind of celebrity who would have the sort of pull to launch her children to stardom. She says:
“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?’
My husband and I are working class actors. 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. 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.”
Read the full feature here.