What You Don't Know About Phoebe Bridgers

Phoebe Bridgers is set to make her Saturday Night Live debut this weekend alongside actor and host Dan Levy and while many know her for hits as a solo music artist, she's much more than a one-woman show. In fact, there's a lot that people, even fans, may not know about the Los Angeles-born musician.

In addition to growing up in a strained household with an abusive father, Bridgers was featured in several different bands, including one band with two other females; dabbled in acting just a bit; and faced temporary strife with her mother after coming out as a bisexual to her many years ago.

Ahead of Bridgers' milestone performance on Saturday Night Live, which will air this Saturday, February 6, at 11:30 p.m. EST, The List has outlined a number of interesting facts about the singer that are sure to inform you a bit more about her.

Speaking to The Fader in fall 2018, Phoebe Bridgers looked back on her troubled childhood as she revealed that her father abused her mother. While Bridgers said that her parents' marriage got off to a good start, her dad ultimately became abusive, dealing her mother a life of (what the musician described to be) "textbook domestic violence." That said, despite the abuse, Bridgers' parents remained married until she was 19. 

Reflecting on the challenges her family faced, Bridgers said that in retrospect, she understood why her mom always seemed to be itching to get out of their house and admitted that she had similar feelings toward their home. "There was an element of having to escape the family dynamic," she shared with the publication. "I think that's why she drove me to concerts and went out of her way. We were both kind of escaping."

In 2012, years before making it big as a solo artist, Bridgers joined a band called Sloppy Jane as the bass player, even though she was admittedly horrible at playing the instrument.

"I played bass, horribly," she admitted. 

Still, despite her apparent challenges with the instrument she was assigned, Bridgers and Haley Dalh, the frontwoman of the group, landed a number of gigs around Los Angeles and continuously captured the attention of their growing audience. As The Fader explained, Dalh had a bit of an odd approach to her on-stage performances and would often strip naked during her shows as paint ran out of her mouth. During other occasions, Dalh, who is still a close friend of Bridgers, would throw herself into the crowd.

In addition to her musical endeavors, Bridgers has also dabbled in acting. 

As she explained to The Fader, she began starring in commercials for brands, including Apple Watch, Home Goods, Quickbooks, and Taco Bell, after nabbing a starring role in a commercial for Apple's iPhone years ago. At the time, Bridgers had been approached for the role by a casting agency who had come to see a performance by her former band, Sloppy Jane. Although Dalh was the frontwoman for the group, she felt she would be "selling out" if she were to appear in the ad and made Bridgers appear as the lead.

Although Bridgers thought that many of her commercial gigs were silly, she gladly cashed the checks from the many brands that hired her and put the money she was making towards her booming career in the world of music.

After coming out as a bisexual to her mother years ago, Phoebe Bridgers was immediately met with push-back. "She was like, 'No, you're f***ng not,'" Bridgers recalled during an October 2020 interview with Them. "But I wasn't really allowed to have boys over ever, and I was deeply allowed to have girls over. So it put me in this position where I was like, 'No, really. We're f***ing.'"

Although her mother was far from on board with her sexual decisions when they were first revealed, Bridgers went on to tell the publication that her mom has since educated herself on sexuality and has actually been using the right pronouns on social media after "fully [embracing] everything."

Bridgers also said that she and her mom share a similar, "very dirty" and "mean" kind of humor. "So I feel like when I'm self-conscious or being too mean, I'm like, 'Mom, get out of my head,'" she joked.

As if being a solo artist isn't hard enough, Bridgers has taken it upon herself to be an active member of not one, but two bands. 

Following the release of her debut album, Stranger in the Alps in 2017, Bridgers teamed up with fellow musicians Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker to create a band called Boygenius (via Vogue). And, after creating an EP in just four days, they climbed to No. 3 on the Vinyl Albums chart, as per Billboard.

One year later, in 2019, Bridgers joined musician Conor Oberst, the frontman for the band Bright Eyes, to create a second group, which they named Better Oblivion Community Center, and quickly released yet another debut album. A short time later, that album saw tons of success as it reached No. 7 on Billboard's Americana/Folk Albums chart and made it to No. 2 on the Heatseekers Albums chart.