Billy Corgan has a jaw-dropping confession.
The 57-year-old revealed he could be related to comedian Bill Burr thanks to his stepmom’s suspicions.
After Howie Mandel realized he had a picture of Burr, 56, behind him instead of Corgan on the Tuesday episode of the Howie Mandel Does Stuff podcast, the Smashing Pumpkins founder understood it was an honest mistake.
“It happens,” Corgan said. “Me and Bill Burr memes. If I had Bill Burr’s money I’d be happy to be Bill Burr.”
Although he “guarantees” he doesn’t have Burr’s money, he did have a story about their possible relationship.
“I’ve never told it to anyone,” he began. “In fact, most of my friends don’t even know this story.”
“So, 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?’ 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.”
Despite not knowing who he was at the time, Corgan soon realized which of his family members the stand-up bore a striking resemblance to.
“And 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,’” the singer recalled. “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?’ I thought the first thing she was going to say was, ‘Oh, I thought you’d notice the resemblance.’”
But that was not what his stepmom had in mind.
“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 of being a traveling musician,’” Corgan continued. “This is a true story. I’m not making this up, there is no joke in this. This is a true story. I’ve never told this anywhere, honestly.”
Corgan recounted his reply to his stepmother’s shocking revelation, telling Mandel, 68, he had said ‘OK, that sort of works’ and I looked at Bill’s age and we are similar age.”
“And my father did once tell me that I had a half brother named Bill,” Corgan dropped. “Who was basically born around the same time as me. He told me on my 18th birthday. This is all totally true. I swear to God. So I said, ‘Well, how many other possible illegitimate children does daddy have because he did tell me about this one Bill.”
He added, “And again, I didn’t know that Bill was a famous comedian, he could have been a guy that’s working down the street at the Whack Factory in Chicago. I had no idea who he was. None. Zero.”
Turns out the mystery Bill wasn’t Corgan’s only possible half sibling.
“And she goes, ‘I think there’s 12 total,’” the musician confessed, before quipping, “Well, he was a traveling musician.”
As for if he’s ever spoken to Burr about this possibility?
“I certainly know people who know Bill and I’ve never gone to them but the one thing I did do was I went and looked up Bill’s history and saw he was raised on the East Coast in Boston or something like that,” Corgan shared, “and it said these are his parents and his life looks pretty normal. If I had seen he was adopted, maybe something, so I’ve never bought it up.”
When Mandel asked, “Should we call Bill Burr and tell him the story?” Corgan replied, “I don’t want to be made fun of by Bill Burr.”
He noted, “He’s very funny and I really don’t want the psychological darts in my heart. All respect to Bill Burr. He’s obviously very talented and funny.”
“When I first saw Bill Burr’s face I had no idea who he was,” reiterated Corgan. “He could have been the guy next door or the most famous comedian on earth, I had no idea. The first time I saw his face I thought, ‘Oh my god he looks like dad.’”
“I had an immediate reaction and anyone who is in my inner circle that knows this story — and obviously people knew my father — and I go, ‘Doesn’t Bill Burr look like daddy?’ or ‘What do you think?’ and they all have the same reaction like, ‘Oh my God he really looks like your father.’”
But at this point, Corgan doesn’t think they are related.
“It’s my belief at this point, because I’ve sat on the story for 10 years,” he added, “that I don’t think Bill Burr and I are related. I think it’s just one of those things. There are just people in the world that look alike.”
The Post has reached out to Burr’s rep for comment.
