‘At first it was sad’: Just six nepo babies who have bravely admitted to being nepo babies

My heart bleeds x

1 year ago

Everyone’s talking about that response to Lily-Rose Depp’s nepo baby rant. A nepo baby, for those who might not know, is just the same as a nepotism baby. I.e. someone who managed to get a firm foot in the door due to their famous (or otherwise influential) parents.

Dan Levy couldn’t have written Schitt’s Creek without the help of his dad, Eugene. Emma Roberts wouldn’t have become a teen idol without her aunt, Julia or her dad, Eric. Mia Goth probably would’ve had to work much harder if not for her parents, Bella and Mortimer. (Wait, what?)

A fair amount of nepo babies choose to simply ignore their privilege publicly until their status outweighs their family’s. (Like, did you know Benedict Cumberbatch’s parents were well-known actors in the 1970s?) While some feel like they have no choice but to acknowledge it. These are the celebs who, for better or worse, have recently opened up about their statuses as fully-fledged nepo babies:

Lily-Rose Depp

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In case you couldn’t already tell from her surname, Lily-Rose is the daughter of Johnny Depp and his ex, Vanessa Paradis. She started acting at the age of 15, before becoming an official spokesmodel for Chanel just one year later. Next year, she’s set to star in Robert Eggers’ remake of Nosferatu.

She sensationally made headlines last week (17th November) for moaning about being labelled a nepo baby by “the internet.”

“Maybe you get your foot in the door, but you still just have your foot in the door. There’s a lot of work that comes after that… The internet seems to care a lot about that kind of stuff, people are going to have preconceived ideas about you or how you got there,” she told Elle.

According to Diet Prada, supermodel Vittoria Ceretti later called her “privileged,” and a whole host of other celebs (like Julia Fox) agreed.

Zoë Kravitz

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Zoë Kravitz is the daughter of gorgeous gorgeous ’80s rockstar, Lenny Kravitz and his ex-wife, actress Lisa Bonet. In fact, Zoë is probably one of the first people who comes to mind when you think of nepo babies.

The actress – who had starring roles in The Batman and Fantastic Beasts – is simply far too booked and busy to care about being known for nepotism. “It’s completely normal for people to be in the family business,” she told GQ. “It’s literally where last names came from. You were a blacksmith if your family was, like, the Black family.”

Maude Apatow

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Euphoria’s Maude Apatow was revealed to be a nepo baby earlier this year – although, was anyone actually surprised? Her name is LITERALLY Apatow, guys.

The actor’s dad is Judd Apatow, the mastermind behind cheesy noughties comedies like Knocked Up and This is 40. Her mum is Leslie Mann, who played Zac Efron’s wife in 17 Again! Naturally, Maude wasn’t too happy about being known as a nepo baby at first.

“I try not to let it get to me because I obviously understand that I’m in such a lucky position,” she told Net-a-Porter. “A lot of people (in a similar position) have proven themselves over the years, so I’ve got to keep going and make good work.”

Maya Hawke

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This one’s a bit of a shocker. Maya Hawke – who plays Robin in Stranger Things and Eleanor in Do Revenge – is the daughter of Uma Thurman! Uma is absolute bona fide Hollywood royalty – having become a household name through her roles in Pulp Fiction and the Kill Bill franchise. Maya’s dad is also an actor, called Ethan Hawke.

Instead of whining about how unfair it is to be born to such rich and successful parents, Maya acknowledged her privilege in a gracious, kind way. “I’m very grateful for the fact that my parents made it so easy for me to do the thing that I love,” she told PEOPLE. “I think I’ll get a couple chances on their name and then if I suck, I’ll get kicked out of the kingdom… And that’s what should happen. So I’m just going to try not to suck.”

Willow Smith

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Willow is, of course, the daughter of Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith (no description needed). The singer first made her individual presence known back when Whip My Hair probably made you want to tear your hair out, but has since gone on to write (only slightly) less annoying songs like Meet Me at Our Spot.

She told Rolling Stone: “If you love me, amazing. If you hate me, fantastic. That’s none of my business. I was put on this planet to be someone who uplifts the lives of people with my art and my words and that’s it. That’s pretty much how I feel. Anyone can feel how they feel, and I don’t mind.”

Gigi Hadid

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Gigi and Bella Hadid’s parents are Yolanda and Mohammed; a model and a real-estate developer, respectively. In an interview with Vogue Australia, Gigi opened up about her nepo baby privilege. “I know I come from privilege, so when I started there was this big guilt of privilege, obviously,” she said.

“I’ve always had this big work ethic because my parents came from nothing and I worked hard to honour them.”