Billie Eilish may have won her second Oscar on Sunday night, but it’s her former choir teacher who feels like the real winner.
Eilish and brother Finneas O’Connell won the original song Oscar for ‘What Was I Made For?’ from Barbie.
During her acceptance speech, Eilish singled out two teachers.
“Ms. Brigham, thanks for believing in me,” she said before thanking a teacher addressed only as “Ms. T,” who Eilish admitted “didn’t like me, but you were good at your job.”
Although Eilish hasn’t revealed “Ms. T’s” full name, The Hollywood Reporter did manage to track down Mandy Brigham, who met Eilish when she was 8 and a member of the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus.
Sadly, Bingham didn’t hear Eilish’s thank you as it happened because she was at the Indian Wells Tennis Open during the Oscars broadcast.
However, Bingham was quickly made aware of it via “more text messages than I’ve ever received in my life,” she told the publication.
She said she was “flabbergasted” by Eilish’s public praise and admitted she “never expected anything like that would ever happen to me.”
Bingham said she really appreciated that Eilish remembered her belief in the young singer.
“That’s the ultimate compliment for a teacher.”