CULTURE

Billie Eilish Candidly Admits She Doesn’t Know How Much Froot Loops Cost

“I don’t know what things cost because I’ve never been an adult before.”


Billie Eilish in a black outfit with black-green hairstyle on stage
Photo courtesy of Getty Images.

It is no secret that 19-year-old Billie Eilish was catapulted to fame at a very young age. And not just any old run-of-the-mill type of fame—she’s in the international pop superstar with 74 million followers on Instagram stratum of celebrity.

Life was not always like this for Eilish, who grew up in Los Angeles with parents who were not wealthy. And the shift from what most would consider “normal” to the level of celebrity she currently upholds has not come without its complications, the musician revealed in a new cover story with Vanity Fair.

At the risk of sounding like Arrested Development‘s Lucille Bluth positing that a single banana might cost $10, Eilish then candidly admitted that she had no idea how much a box of cereal should cost when shopping online (a new activity that she, like so many of us, has recently realized she loves during the pandemic).

“It’s a really weird position I’m in,” she told Vanity Fair. “I feel kind of stupid because I’m like, I don’t know how much Froot Loops are. I tried to order one box of Froot Loops and I was like, Oh yeah, sure. It’s $35. I didn’t know that that’s expensive.”

She then ordered 70 boxes of the cereal, without realizing how much it would add up. Thankfully, they were the miniature sized boxes, though the total for 70 boxes of cereal at $35 a pop would be ridiculous by just about anyone’s standards.

It might seem hard to believe that Eilish wouldn’t know —the story also reports that Eilish loves Trader Joe’s so much that she once wanted to be a cashier there when she grew up, and one would have to imagine that during one of her trips to the grocery store, the musician would have seen how much a box of cereal usually costs. But she may have good reason for not knowing. “I don’t know what things cost because I’ve never been an adult before,” she said. “And, you know, I grew up with no money.”

Most people would see that nearly 300 percent price markup for one box of Froot Loops when ordering online and probably close out of the shopping window. But it’s rare to see a person this famous be this honest about their experiences with becoming a celebrity at a young age. And if, suddenly at 13 years old, you found yourself an indie pop darling, and then went on to sell millions of records, sell out arenas, and become subject of an Apple TV+ documentary about your life by the time you’re 19 (which, according to the Vanity Fair story’s reporting, did not bring $25 million into Eilish’s personal bank account), you just might find yourself a little bit confused about how much to spend on a single box of cereal, too.

Related: Billie Eilish Will Get Rid of Her Green Roots, But Doesn’t Care What You Think, Really