Billie Eilish And Her Brother Finneas O'Connell Paid Off Parents’ Mortgage And Pay Them Salaries
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Finneas O'Connell, the brother of singer Billie Eilish, has hit out at trolls who have argued he and his sister are only successful off the back of their parents, who work in the entertainment industry.
Speaking out on Twitter, Finneas said that not only are those comments simply untrue, but he and Billie also ended up paying off their parents' mortgage, and even pay them a salary to join them while touring.
Finneas and Billie are the children of actor and screenwriter Maggie Baird and actor Patrick O'Connell.
But Finneas - who co-wrote and produced Billie Eilish's award-winning debut album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? - explained in a candid Twitter post that despite their work in entertainment, his parents had nothing to do with his and Billie's success in the record industry.
He wrote: "During my life time, our parents were never able to fully financially support us off of their work as actors.
"Our dad worked 12 hour days 7 days a week as a construction worker for Mattel and our mom was a teacher. Our parents gave us love but knew no one in the record industry."
In a follow-up tweet, Finneas added: "I paid off their mortgage last year and Billie pays them each salaries to tour with us full time though they have told us many times they would work for us for free."
Finneas and Billie have built quite the musical empire together, having recently dominated the 2020 Grammy Awards.
While Billie is well-known as the face of their creative partnership, Finneas oversees the production side of things - and sometimes finds inspiration from unlikely places, like an Australian pedestrian crossing, which ended up being featured in hit single 'Bad Guy'.
Billie told Rolling Stone: "My mum and I went for a walk in Sydney. We were like across the street from the hotel and the crosswalk is this little - you press it and it's like 'doop, doop'. And I was like, 'That's hard!' That's the sound that it makes when you have to wait."
Finneas then cut it up, altered the pitch and sped it up before it made its way into the song's very catchy chorus.
Finneas added: "The hilarious part about all this is we were just in Australia in May and my dad goes, 'Have you heard these crosswalks?'
"And I was like, 'Yeah, it's the chorus in 'Bad Guy'.' And he goes, 'What?' I was like, 'Yeah... never mind man.'"
Featured Image Credit: PA
Topics: Billie Eilish, Entertainment, Celebrity, Music
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