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Billy Corgan’s Stepmom Thinks Bill Burr Is His Half-Brother

"She goes, 'I think it might be one of your father's illegitimate children,'" Corgan recalled.

Billy Corgan attends during a conversation with Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins at The GRAMMY Museum on Aug. 8, 2023 in Los Angeles.

Billy Corgan attends during a conversation with Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins at The GRAMMY Museum on Aug. 8, 2023 in Los Angeles.

Timothy Norris/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

Billy Corgan and Bill Burr sure look alike, don’t they? The Smashing Pumpkins star’s stepmother thinks that’s no coincidence.

During an appearance on Howie Mandel’s Howie Mandel Does Stuff podcast, Corgan shared a hilarious story after Mandel mistakenly put up an image of Burr behind him. Corgan explained that it’s not the first time someone has pointed out the resemblance. “About 10 years ago, one of my brothers was having a birthday party, and my stepmother was there, who was obviously married to my father. And my stepmother said to me, ‘Do you know who Bill Burr is?,'” the musician recalled. “Now at that point, I had never heard of Bill Burr; I didn’t know who he was. I didn’t know he was a comedian or anything. He could have been the guy down the street.”


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He continued, “She said, ‘Well, he’s this comedian.’ And I think I even somehow called up a picture on the phone, and I kind of noticed right away, ‘Gee, he kind of looks like my father.’ Bill Burr looks more like my father than Bill Burr looks like me or I look like Bill Burr. So I said to my mother, ‘Why are you asking me this?'”

While Corgan initially thought that his stepmother was simply pointing out the resemblance, she went even further. “She goes, ‘I think it might be one of your father’s illegitimate children. Bill Burr might be one of the children that your father sired in his days being a traveling musician,'” he said. “This is a true story. I’m not making this up; there is no joke in this.”

While Corgan clarified that he didn’t think he and Burr are actually half-brothers, it’s funny to think about. Watch him recall the full story here.

This article was originally published by Billboard U.S.

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Ed Sheeran performs onstage at iHeartRadio Z100's Jingle Ball 2025 Presented by Capital One held at Madison Square Garden on December 12, 2025 in New York, New York.
John Nacion/Billboard

Ed Sheeran performs onstage at iHeartRadio Z100's Jingle Ball 2025 Presented by Capital One held at Madison Square Garden on December 12, 2025 in New York, New York.

Music News

Ed Sheeran Addresses Controversy at First Show Since Openers, Backing Band Dropped Off Tour, Calls It ‘The Best Show of My Life’

Before his show in Philadelphia, Sheeran read a statement acknowledging the issue of Israel and Palestine, but still tried to keep things neutral.

Ed Sheeran needed to address the situation before he could start playing guitar. It wasn’t how he wanted to start his show, and he’s made it abundantly clear that the last thing he wants around him is controversy or, in his words, to be an “activist musician.”

But here he was, at the first show after his opener and friend Macklemore was kicked off the tour, following pressure by a group of venue owners led by Robert Kraft who took issue with Macklemore’s statement of support toward Palestine. That led to the rest of the tour’s openers and even Sheeran’s backing band for the tour dropping off the tour in solidarity with Macklemore — all of which became a huge news story and PR nightmare for the usually very un-controversial Sheeran. And though he had already made one highly scrutinized statement online while the news story was at its most potent, Sheeran felt the need to address the crowd at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday night (Sept. 19) in person, before the show really started.

This article was first published by Billboard U.S.

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