All About Olivia Rodrigo's Parents, Chris and Jennifer (2024)

Olivia Rodrigo’s parents, Chris and Jennifer, are her biggest supporters.

Though her dad and mom aren’t in the public eye like their daughter is, the "Vampire" singer has often gushed about them in interviews, noting how they encouraged her to pursue music at a young age.

In fact, she has described them as her “BFFs,” revealing how they inspired her a great deal growing up, both musically and personally.

"I definitely have a lot of traits that I think I inherited from my family members,” she said on Disney Channel in 2017. “My parents, they’ve taught me how to be kind and respectful, and to always do the right thing.”

Read ahead to learn more about Rodrigo’s parents and what she has shared about their relationship.

Her parents aren’t musicians but they did inspire her taste in music

According to a previous feature with The Guardian, Rodrigo’s mom is a teacher and her dad is a family therapist. Though they aren’t musicians like Rodrigo, they did greatly inspire her taste in music, with the singer calling them both “music heads” during a previous interview with NME.

Speaking with Vogue in July 2023, the “Drivers License” singer noted how she grew up listening to No Doubt, the White Stripes and riot grrrl because of her parents, adding that her first concert was Weezer and she recently went to see The Cure with her dad. “He’s introducing me to all the bands he went to see when he was my age,” she told the publication.

Her dad is Filipino

During a Disney Channel segment for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in 2017, Rodrigo spoke about her Filipino lineage.

"I am part Filipina on my dad's side of the family,” she said during the video. “My Filipino heritage comes from my great-grandfather. He came on a boat from the Philippines when he was just a teenager.”

Her parents pushed her to take piano lessons at a young age

Rodrigo has her parents to thank for her early love of music. Speaking with MTV UK in 2021, she revealed that it was actually her parents who pushed her to take piano lessons at a young age.

"I had my first proper piano lesson when I was probably nine years old, and I hated it. I would cry before every lesson,” she told the publication. “But, in hindsight, I'm very glad I was forced to be in piano lessons because I use those skills that I was taught every day. Playing piano is one of my favorite things to do now, so [I'm] grateful that my parents forced me to do that."

Olivia Rodrigo considers her parents her BFFs

Speaking with The Guardian, Rodrigo talked about growing up as an only child, noting how her parents were her "BFFs" growing up.

“I’ve always been a real goody two-shoes,” she told the publication. “My music can be my form of teenage rebellion. There’s songs that are so angsty and intense.”

Olivia Rodrigo always plays her music for her mom

Rodrigo really values her mom’s opinion and always makes sure to run her music by her. “I think she has great music taste,” Rodrigo explained to EW. “But she is a really harsh critic despite the fact that she’s my mom. And she’s always honest with me, which I really appreciate.”

“Her favorite music is punk music and metal music and really hard, gritty stuff, so she’s always been the one that has instilled in me that, ‘I don’t care [about] the technicalities — if it makes you feel something, then its good music,’” Rodrigo told Apple Music, per Teen Vogue. “If my mom doesn’t like it, I know it’s not music that makes you feel.”

Olivia Rodrigo’s mom played a big role in her hit single “Drivers License”

Speaking with MTV UK, Rodrigo revealed that the car sounds in “Drivers License” were actually taken from her mom’s car. Interestingly enough, her mom wasn’t the biggest fan of “Drivers License” when Rodrigo first played it for her.

“When I played ‘Drivers License’ for the first time for my mom, she goes, ‘The bridge is really weird. It’s too much; it doesn’t fit with the rest of the song,’” she revealed during an interview with Apple Music. “In hindsight, I’m glad I didn’t take that to heart, but she’s very honest. But, I mean, obviously, she’s my mom and would support me in whatever I did, but I just thought that was a funny little anecdote.”

Her parents were by her side when she won her first Grammy

Rodrigo had the support of her parents as she took home her first three Grammy wins in 2022, including best new artist. Speaking with PEOPLE on the red carpet ahead of the award show, the singer talked about how special it was having them by her side as she was nominated for seven awards.

"The fact that I was nominated for so many today is beyond me. I can't believe it," she told PEOPLE red carpet hosts Jeremy Parsons and Janine Rubenstein. "I'm so lucky I have the most amazing family and the most amazing friends. They're actually all here tonight. My parents are here, all my best friends flew out, so it's gonna be a party."

She even gave them a shoutout as she won best pop vocal album, thanking them for being "supportive"throughout her grandiose ambitions.

"I want to thank my mom for being supportive [of] all of my dreams, no matter how crazy," she said. "I want to thank my mom and my dad for being as equally as proud of me for winning a Grammy as they were when I learned how to do a back walkover."

Olivia Rodrigo moved out of her parents' house when she was 18

Speaking with GQ for their YouTube series, Actually Me, in 2021, Rodrigo talked about how she had just moved out of her parents' house and gotten her first “big girl apartment.”

“It’s very exciting, but my parents come and stay with me all the time and I'd go stay with them all the time, so I don't know if I'm technically living alone, but I say I am,” she said.

Speaking with The Guardian later, Rodrigo added, "It's like a soft move out – my parents are there a lot of the time. But I love being alone. And I love my own solitude."