Italian model Vittoria Ceretti has said that actors with famous parents should “appreciate and know” their privilege following Lily Rose Depp’s comments about being called a “nepotism baby”.
The daughter of Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis responded to allegations that she has had an unfair advantage in the film industry because of her parents earlier this week.
But Ceretti, who is considered an “industry icon” by Models.com, called on those who have influential parents to “appreciate and know the place you came from”.
In a since-deleted Instagram Story, the Vogue cover star wrote: “I get the whole ‘I’m here and I work hard for it’, but 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).”
She continued: “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?”
Ceretti, who has been in the modelling industry since she was 14, said those who enter the industry with the help of their parents’ fame and fortune “have no f***ing idea how much you have to fight to make people respect you”.
“TAKES YEARS,” she added. “You just get it free by day one.”
In an interview with Elle magazine, Depp, who is also an actor, said: “People are going to have preconceived ideas about you or how you got there. I can definitely say that nothing is going to get you the part except for being right for the part.
“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,” she insisted.
But in her Instagram Story, Ceretti reminded people like Depp to acknowledge their roots. She wrote: “I know it’s not your fault but please, appreciate and know the place you came from.
“I have many nepo baby friends whom I respect, but I can’t stand listening to you compare yourself to me. I was not born on a comfy sexy pillow with a view.”
US model Anok Yai, who has South Sudanese heritage, also revealed her thoughts on Depp’s interview and said that some “privileged kids stress about not booking a job because of the impact on your career while there are those of us who stress about not booking a job because we don’t know if we’ll be able to take care of our parents this month or put our siblings through school”.
She continued in a series of Instagram Stories: “Seeing people benefit from nepotism doesn’t bother me at all – I know my talent and work ethic will get me into any room I want.
“What does bother me is when power players in the industry (brands, directors, editors, etc) pretend to act ignorant to the fact.”
Yai, who became the first South Sudanese model to open a Prada show in 2018, said that having privilege is not “a bad thing”, but added: “But goddamn if only you knew the hell we go through just to be able to stand in the same room you were born in.”
