After New York Magazine released its viral cover story on Hollywood’s nepo (short for nepotism) baby boom, celebrities all over the map seem to be falling into some sort of widespread meltdown. Stars like Lily Allen, Lottie Moss, Lily Collins, and even Jamie Lee Curtis are speaking out against being labeled as nepo babies, but let’s be real — it’s kind of hard to take their reactions seriously when they’re born with opportunities that most people could never even dream of having. Here’s why some celebs are pushing back against the “nepo baby” label, and why it’s kind of … bullshit.
“I have been a professional actress since I was 19 years old so that makes me an OG Nepo Baby,” Curtis wrote in a Dec. 23 Instagram post. As the daughter of famous actors Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, the Hollywood scream queen kicked off her film debut at 19 years old with the 1978 slasher film, Halloween — an instant classic. But Curtis insists that her privileged parentage has little to do with her success. "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."
Hey, no one is saying these successful celebs aren’t talented! However, having famous parents certainly makes it a lot easier for those talents to be widely recognized. Still, Curtis seems to be expressing some insecurity in her most recent Insta post. “I've never understood, nor will I, what qualities got me hired,” she wrote. “There's not a day in my professional life that goes by without my being reminded that I am the daughter of movie stars,” she added. “The current conversation about nepo babies is just designed to try to diminish and denigrate and hurt.” Jamie, no one is calling you untalented! It is, though, pretty hard to relate when you have iconic actors for parents, and apparently can’t fathom what qualities got you booked for those early acting gigs.
Curtis certainly isn’t alone in her apparent identity crisis. Lottie Moss, 24, daughter of supermodel Kate Moss, also spoke out against the “nepo baby” label in a now-deleted Dec. 21 Twitter rant. (In fact, her entire Twitter feed is now wiped.) “I’m so sick of people blaming nepotism for why they aren’t rich and famous or successful — obviously it’s not fair that people who come from famous families are getting a leg up because of that but guess what? Life isn’t fair,” Moss wrote, according to BuzzFeed. Phew. Judging from that response, Moss seems more than a little peeved about recognizing her privilege.
Thankfully, some stars don’t seem to be taking the discourse quite so seriously. Eve Hewson, star of the Netflix thriller Behind Her Eyes (and daughter of legendary U2 musician Bono) has a refreshingly cheeky sense of humor about the whole situation. On Dec. 20, she also took to Twitter to weigh in on the situation. “Gonna get Nepo Baby tattooed on my ass,” she quipped. All I can say is, the girls that get it, get it.
At the end of the day, there’s nothing inherently wrong with being a nepo baby. No one is saying these successful celebs aren’t talented in their own right; it’s just important (and honestly, good sense) to acknowledge the leg-up they had in getting to where they are.
