If you live on the Westside of Los Angeles and have a child in private school around here — PS 1 in Santa Monica, maybe, or Windward in Mar Vista — you have almost certainly had encounters with "nepo babies," kids of famous parents who have gone on or will go on to fame in the entertainment industry themselves.
Although the zippy term "nepo baby" only recently entered the lexicon, the idea that the sons and daughters of celebrities get a leg up in their parents' world is nothing new. It's as old as the silver screen itself.
My daughter went to school with a slew of celebrity spawn. The children or grandchildren of world-class musicians, actors, directors, agents. And though I've interviewed many famous people in my work, it was always slightly jarring to be sitting in the bleachers next to, say, Denzel Washington watching his son play middle school football. Or for my kid to come home for winter break with a rhinestone-spangled pine cone ornament made by Bob Dylan's grandson. Or for her to announce that she'd just seen Ziggy Marley perform at her friend's bar mitzvah party. You just knew that future appearances on the red carpet was the birthright of those children.
