Emma Roberts has something to say about nepo baby stereotypes.
Emma, 33, who is the daughter of Eric Roberts and the niece of Julia Roberts, weighed in on the nepotism discourse during a Tuesday, June 25, appearance on the “Table for Two with Bruce Bozzi” podcast.
“I think there’s two sides of the coin. People like to say, you know, you have a leg up because you have family in the industry,” she began. “But then the other side to that is you have to prove yourself more. Also, if people don’t have good experiences with other people in your family, then you’ll never get a chance.”
The actress pointed out that George Clooney is technically a nepo baby because his aunt is singer and actress Rosemary Clooney and his dad is anchorman Nick Clooney — and said she doesn’t see the same criticism for men with connections in the entertainment business.
“I feel like young girls get it harder with the nepo baby thing,” she said. “I don’t really see people calling out sons of famous actors — not that they should be called out. I don’t think anyone should be called out for wanting to follow their dream.”
Emma also noted that even successful actors with family members in the industry face roadblocks in their careers.
“People kind of only see your wins because they only see when you’re on the poster of a movie. They don’t see all the rejection along the way,” she said. “That’s why I’m always very open about things I’ve auditioned for and haven’t gotten the part for. I think it’s important to talk about — otherwise people just think everything’s been so great and linear and easy, and no, it’s not at all. But of course it looks like that to the outside perspective or to the naked eye.”
Emma chalked up the dismissal of nepo babies to people’s love for an “overnight success” story.
“If you’re kind of not the girl from the middle of nowhere that broke into Hollywood, there’s kind of an eye roll of like ‘Well, your dad was this,’” she said.
Emma is not the first star to take issue with the nepo baby label. Dakota Johnson, the daughter of actors Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith, called the Hollywood nepotism conversation “incredibly annoying and boring” during a February appearance on Today, while Lily-Rose Depp has said she’s never booked a role due to being Johnny Depp’s daughter.
“It’s weird to me to reduce somebody to the idea that they’re only there because it’s a generational thing. It just doesn’t make any sense,” Lily-Rose, 25, told Elle in December 2022. “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.’ It’s like, ‘No, I went to medical school and trained.’ … I just hear it a lot more about women, and I don’t think that it’s a coincidence.”
Allison Williams, meanwhile, has no problem admitting that she had a leg up being the daughter of former NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams.
“It doesn’t feel like a loss to admit it,” the Girls alum, 36, told Wired in December 2022. “If you trust your own skill, I think it becomes very simple to acknowledge.”
