Billie Eilish Opens Up About Feeling Like A ‘Loser’ For Being So Close To Her Family Amidst Monumental Fame

Billie Eilish at the Hollywood Bowl for Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles concert movie
(Image credit: Disney/Mason Poole)

Billie Eilish is one of the biggest young pop stars in the world right now, and she has showed us all that teen fame and trainwreck chaos doesn’t always have to be paired in the same sentence. The 21-year-old has remained grounded amidst being publicly body shamed and criticized for her romantic relationship choices. She often attributes this to being very close to her family, but as she recently shared, she’s felt “insecure” about her close-knit family being a huge part of her story. 

When Eilish had a candid conversation with fellow musician Dua Lipa on her podcast At Your Service, the singer from the No Time To Die and Barbie soundtracks opened up about her parents and brother being her biggest supporters over the years. In her words: 

To be honest, [my support system has] really just been my family. I mean I obviously have had a lot of friends along the way that have helped me stay grounded, but my closest friends really and truly are my brother and my parents. I mean, it’s just the way that it is. I’m fine with it, I think there was a period where I was probably insecure, like ‘I’m really close with my family… hmm, am I a loser?’ But, I’m much more fine with it now.

The Oscar winner spoke to the subject when Lipa asked her about what mentors have made a difference besides her family. Billie Eilish admitted she couldn’t really think of others because it’s been all about her closest family members. Eilish continued: 

I really love my family and I think my brother has been really, you know, he just snaps me back into reality. Some friends or even coworkers you might feel a little too comfortable being a baby and being sensitive about stuff and I guess weak, and I don’t know, when I’m with my brother and I kind of complaining about shit, he’s like ‘Shut up, snap out of it, don’t do that, we’re not going to do that’ and I really appreciate that, there’s certain times when I appreciate Finneas ability be my brother and sibling and also he makes me laugh more than anybody, and we get through it together.

Billie Eilish’s journey has been her brother Finneas O’Connell’s almost as much as hers considering they write all their songs together, tour together, and have shared just about every monumental career moment by each other’s sides. Of course Finneas can blend in much more than his sister, especially considering he’s not known for viral fashion looks like she is or neon green hair. 

Eilish also shared in the interview that her mom is “the reason I haven’t lost my mind” due to the all the constant positive support she has given her throughout her career. The 21-year-old also made the distinction that she’s “not a momager,” just a really good point of support in her life that it sounds like she can go to for pretty much anything. It’s honeslty really sweet to see a young famous person like Eilish really lean on her family amidst such viral fame, and it definitely seems like it’s made all the difference in her adjusting to the circus that is the music industry. 

Most recently, Eilish wrote one of the key songs for Barbie, “What Was I Made For?” which has already become a massive hit and could be headed for the Oscars for her and Finneas’ second Best Original Song nomination after winning their first for “No Time To Die” for the James Bond movie. You can get a closer look at Billie Eilish’s dynamic with her family with the 2021 documentary Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry, now streaming with an Apple TV+ subscription

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Sarah El-Mahmoud
Staff Writer

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.