celebrity

'I don't really care.' Celebrities on what life as a nepo baby is really like.

Nepo babies all over Hollywood are quaking in their Chanel boots right now. Of late, there has been increasing interest - or should we say scrutiny? - in just who these "nepotism babies" are and the perceived privilege they're afforded given their famous parent, parents, or lineage.

Think Brooklyn Beckham, Lily-Rose Depp, Dakota Johnson, and Zoe Kravitz. That's just four. If you want the full list, New York Magazine has very helpfully provided a detailed illustration of every single Hollywood nepo baby currently existing in the universe. The accompanying Vulture article has since gone viral.

Did we need this extremely detailed list and analysis of nepo babies? Probably not. But it's human nature to be voyeuristic, and many of us who are not Hollywood nepo babies (there's quite a few of us) couldn't help feel a twinge of "Well, these nepo babies deserve it." As the article states, "We love them, we hate them, we disrespect them, we're obsessed with them."

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Following Lily Allen's comments defending nepo babies, other celebrities have given their own two cents - including Jamie Lee Curtis, Lottie Moss, and Kate Hudson.

Allen is a nepo baby herself - her father is actor Keith Allen and her mother is film producer Alison Owen, and her brother is actor Alfie Allen, who played Theon Greyjoy in Game of Thrones

"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, If we're talking about real-world consequences and robbing people of opportunity. BUT that’s none of my business," she tweeted.

Guessing she would be criticised for contributing to this hot button subject, she followed it up with, "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."

Listen to The Spill's episode on nepo babies. Story continues below.


However, the Twitterverse is not known for civil discussion, and Allen was roundly rebuked. She then wrote a series of tweets to defend her position.

"Look, I seem to have riled people up with my comments about nepo babies. I am nearly 40 years of age and am more than happy, in fact I think it's important to disclose what a privileged upbringing I've had and how that has created so many opportunities for me," Allen wrote.

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She went on to explain that in her 20s she felt very defensive about this privilege. "I felt like I worked extremely hard and that I deserved the success that I had, that people connected to my songs and that the songs came from me, I also had quite a fraught relationship with some of my family members so it felt difficult for me to attribute my successes to them, at the time."

Watch: Lily Allen talks about her journey to being comfortable about her sexuality. Story continues below.


Video via Womaniser.

Touching on diversity in Hollywood, she noted there was a "severe lack of representation in the industry where class and race are concerned" and that everyone loses as a result.

"I do feel that nepo babies are being somewhat scapegoated here though, there is a wider, societal conversation to be had about wealth inequality, about lack of programs and funding, and I guess that was the point I was trying to make, maybe badly," she conceded.

"I promise you I'm not rooting for an industry full of people that had childhoods that looked like mine. I just really think that we can't get to a real solution without identifying the real problem, as fun as it is to laugh at the kids of famous people. Nepo babies have feelings."

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Again, Twitter wasn't having a bar of it, leading Allen to exit post-haste. 

"Anyway, enough internets for today, I am abandoning my post as chief nepo baby defender," she wrote. "Have a wonderful rest of your day."

Listen to this episode of The Spill, Mamamia's daily entertainment podcast. Story continues after audio. 


While Allen may be part of a group of celebrities defending nepotism, actor Kate Hudson has decided she just... doesn't really care. 

Hudson comes from a family of Hollywood legends and is the daughter of award-winning actress Goldie Hawn and actor and musician Bill Hudson (but was raised by actor Kurt Russell). In over two decades of acting, she's featured in a number of well-received films - including Netflix blockbuster Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery - and earned an Oscar nomination for her role in 2000's Almost Famous.

"The nepotism thing, I mean... I don't really care. I look at my kids and we're a storytelling family. It's definitely in our blood," Hudson recently told The Independent. "People can call it whatever they want, but it's not going to change it."

She went on to say she doesn't believe Hollywood seems to be as fraught with nepotism babies as the modelling or business industry. "I actually think there are other industries where it's [more common]," she said. "Maybe modeling? I see it in business way more than I see it in Hollywood. Sometimes I've been in business meetings where I'm like, 'Wait, whose child is this?' Like, this person knows nothing!"

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"I don't care where you come from or what your relationship to the business is — if you work hard and you kill it, it doesn't matter," she added.

Hudson isn't the only nepo baby to push back as model and sister of Kate Moss, Lottie Moss, has deleted her Twitter account following intense criticism over her own defence of nepo babies. 

"I'm so sick of people blaming nepotism for why they aren’t rich and famous or successful," she wrote earlier this month in a series of tweets. "If you put your mind to something you can accomplish anything! So instead of being negative about other people's success, go and try and create your own."

Kate and Lottie Moss in 2014. Image: Getty.

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Last week, Jamie Lee Curtis defended nepo babies' 'right to live', calling herself the "OG". 

In a post to Instagram, the actor shared a baby photo with her famous actor parents, Tony Curtis (who starred alongside Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot) and Janet Leigh (from Psycho).

"I have been a professional actress since I was 19 years old - so that makes me an OG Nepo Baby," she wrote. "I've never understood, nor will I, what qualities got me hired that day, but since my first two lines on Quincy as a contract player at Universal Studios to this last spectacular creative year some 44 years later, there's not a day in my professional life that goes by without my being reminded that I am the daughter of movie stars. 

"The current conversation about nepo babies is just designed to try to diminish and denigrate and hurt."

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Curtis added: "For the record, I have navigated 44 years with the advantages my associated and reflected fame brought me, I don't pretend there aren't any, that try to tell me that I have no value on my own. It's curious how we immediately make assumptions and snide remarks that someone related to someone else who is famous in their field for their art, would somehow have no talent whatsoever. 

"I have come to learn that is simply not true. I have suited up and shown up for all different kinds of work with thousands of thousands of people and every day I've tried to bring integrity and professionalism and love and community and art to my work. I am not alone. 

"There are many of us. Dedicated to our craft. Proud of our lineage. Strong in our belief in our right to exist."

This article was published on December 22, 2022 and has since been updated with new information. 

Feature Image: Getty.

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