Billie Eilish's teacher 'flabbergasted' by Oscars mention

Billie Eilish's former choir teacher has admitted she was 'flabbergasted' when the singer mentioned her by name in her acceptance speech at the Oscars.

Billie Eilish

Billie Eilish's former teacher was "flabbergasted" when the singer mentioned her by name in her acceptance speech at the Oscars.

The 22-year-old pop star took to the stage at the Academy Awards last weekend to pick up the Best Original Song gong for her 'Barbie' track 'What Was I Made For?' and in her speech she gave a shout out to her former choir instructor Ms. Brigham - declaring "thanks for believing in me".

Mandy Brigham - who used to teach Billie as an eight-year-old member of the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus - has now revealed she was stunned to be mentioned in her speech. She told The Hollywood Reporter: "I wasn’t watching the Oscars ... And then I started to get text messages. More text messages than I’ve ever received in my life ...

"[I was] flabbergasted ... I never expected anything like that would ever happen to me ... [Being remembered by a student] that’s the ultimate compliment for a teacher."

Billie also mentioned another teacher in her speech, adding: "Ms. T, you didn’t like me, but you were good at your job,"but her identity has not been revealed.

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The singer's victory at Sunday night's [10,.03.24] ceremony marked her second Oscar win after previously picking up the Best Song prize in 2022 for 'No Time to Die' from the James Bond film of the same name.

Speaking backstage at the 2024 event, Billie admitted she felt like a failure at the age of 12 because she wasn't already working in showbusiness.

She told reporters: "I remember being 12, believe it or not, and seeing this musical and sobbing my eyes out and thinking ‘damn I’m a failure’.

"I was watching 'Matilda' on Broadway, it was amazing. I was balling, [thinking] 'I am never going to amount to anything because I am not in Matilda'.

"Just give yourself some time, do what you love, and I know that is easier said than done, some of us don’t know what we love. You’ll figure it out.”"