All of the most ridiculous things nepo babies have said about being nepo babies

Discourse around nepo babies has exploded over the last month and loads of actors, models, and musicians with famous parents, grandparents, and cousins have felt the need to speak out. From Lily Rose Depp to Lily Allen, every A-lister with heritage is getting defensive as the ridicule mounts.

Yet, as Italian model Vittoria Ceretti put it: “I would really love to see if you would have lasted through the first five years of my career. Not only being rejected, because I know you have an experience with it and you can tell me your sad little story about it (even if at the end of the day you can still always go cry on your dad’s couch in your villa in Malibu).

“But how about now being able to pay for your flight back home to your family? Waiting hours to do a fitting/casting just to see a nepo baby walk past you, from the warm seat of [their] Mercedes with [their] driver and [their] friend/assistant/agent taking care of [their] mental health? You have no f***ing idea how much you have to fight to make people respect you. TAKES YEARS. You just get it free by day one.”

So, in case you’re wondering just how those born into showbiz lineage have actually been justifying their gifted fame, here are all of the most ridiculous things nepo babies have said about being nepo babies:

‘Nepo babies are being scapegoated’ – Lily Allen

On Twitter, Lily Allen (daughter of actor Keith Allen) made it clear she resented the nepo baby backlash: “The nepo babies y’all should be worrying about are the ones working for legal firms, the ones working for banks, and the ones working in politics,” she wrote. 

“If we’re talking about real world consequences and robbing people of opportunity. BUT that’s none of my business. And before you come at me for being a nepo baby myself, I will be the first to tell you that I literally deserve nothing…do feel that nepo babies are being somewhat scapegoated here though. 

“As fun as it is to laugh at the kids of famous people. Nepo babies have feelings.” 

‘You just have your foot in the door’ – Lily Rose Depp

Last month, Lily Rose Depp (daughter of Johnny Depp) famously compared being the daughter of a Hollywood star to being the daughter of a medical professional: “If somebody’s mom or dad is a doctor, and then the kid becomes a doctor, you’re not going to be like, ‘Well, you’re only a doctor because your parent is a doctor.'” she told Elle. “It’s like, ‘No, I went to medical school and trained.’

“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, and I can definitely say that nothing is going to get you the part except for being right for the part,” she claimed of her own career. “The internet cares a lot more about who your family is than the people who are casting you in things. 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.”

‘You were a blacksmith if your family was the Black family’ – Zoe Kravitz

Daughter of Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet and star of the latest Batman movie,  Zoe, claimed being born into showbiz fame and being handed respect and recognition is just the standard circle of life: “It’s completely normal for people to be in the family business,”  she said to GQ.  “It’s literally where last names came from. You were a blacksmith if your family was, like, the Black family.”

‘I’m just going to try not to suck’ – Maya Hawke

Maya hasn’t seemed to have grasped that her dad being Ethan Hawke will give her almost infinite chances in the entertainment world— even if she’s not very good. Hence, the outrage at the injustice: “I think I’ll get a couple chances on their name and then if I suck, I’ll get kicked out of the kingdom,” she naively told People.

“And that’s what should happen. So I’m just going to try not to suck.”

‘It’s just a fact. My parents are famous’ – Leni Klum

You almost have to stan Leni Klum for being totally unapologetic: “It’s just a fact. My parents are famous,” she told People of her superstar model mother Heidi Klum. “I know that people would dream to start off with what I had. … But I am doing the work and putting in the time. Now I’m working on my own, traveling alone, going to school. My mom and I just have the same love for the same thing.”

‘This is my family business’ – Hailey Bieber

Echoing Kravitz’s argument, Hailey Bieber also thinks from the womb to worldwide fame is a normal career path and claimed nepotism was just the way her family had hustled for generations: “Kids that already have a famous background are just following in their families’ footsteps,” she told Grazia. “My dad and all of his brothers have done this. This is my family business.”

‘Nepotism is a thing and I’m very aware of it’ – Elizabeth Olsen 

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s sister Elizabeth’s comments on her unfair advantage have been extremely short and extremely vague. “Nepotism is a thing and I’m very aware of it,” she told Grazia. No further expansion needed, then.

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• Revealed: Reese Witherspoon’s son being in Never Have I Ever was in fact…nepotism
• From Jaya Harper to Iris Apatow: All the TikTok stars you didn’t realise were nepotism babies
• From Timothée Chalamet to Maya Hawke: Here are Hollywood’s secret nepotism babies