Nepotism is defined by the dictionary as “the practice among those with power or influence of favoring relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs.” It is more commonly seen in pop culture when the children of famous actors, musicians, producers, directors, or writers get jobs in the entertainment industry. It is no secret that the entertainment industry is a hard one to break into. There is no degree, certificate, or education that can promise you a career. However, one thing that you can ensure will get you a role is being born into a famous family. The argument whether nepotism is “fair” or not has never really been settled: one side believes that the sole reason that nepotism babies, kids of famous people who get jobs in the industry, are getting hired is because of their last name, and they do not possess any talent or unique qualities about them, while the other side argues that nepotism babies who choose to pursue a career in entertainment are simply taking advantage of their opportunities, and they in particular have to work twice as hard to prove that they deserve to be in the industry, since people question if they are deserving or not.
When writing this article I looked into the lives of many nepotism babies, some of which I was even unaware had famous parents, and I could not come to any conclusion other than that nepotism babies have completely different experiences. For example, Maya Hawke. She is most well known for her role in the hit-show Stranger Things, as Robin. Her mother, Uma Thurman, was very popular in the ‘90s and early 2000s for her roles in Batman & Robin (1997), Pulp Fiction (1994), and all of the Kill Bill movies. While her father, Ethan Hawke, is known for his role in Dead Poets Society (1989), and more recently in Moon Knight (2022) and The Black Phone (2021). Maya is one of the few nepotism babies who is not very often compared to or associated with her parents. The public just knows her as “the girl from Stranger Things.” A lot of people find her to be a genuinely talented and great actress, completely on her own. In an interview, Maya Hawke told Rolling Stone, “I feel like the only way to handle the nepotism thing, which definitely gives you massive advantages in this life, is, you will get chances for free, but the chances will not be infinite. Therefore you have to keep working and do a good job. If you do a bad job, the chances will stop. That’s my ethos.”
A prime example of this perspective is Willow Smith, daughter of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith. Unlike her brother, Jaden Smith, Willow decided to veer away from acting and go straight into music. She released her first debut single, “Whip My Hair,” in 2010. The song did hit #10 on the Billboard’s Top 100, but people claim the only reason it did was because people wanted to hear if Willow was actually a good artist or if she was just another unremarkable nepotism baby. On the site “Rate Your Music,” the song had an average of ⅖ stars with some pretty brutally honest comments like: “Yikes, this song is BAD.” “The lyrics are hella wack.” “Willow says ‘I whip my hair back and forth’ 66 times.” “What's even worse is that Willow didn't even write the song.” “The instrumental is horrible.” “It sounds disgusting. I don't hear any bass.” “There's nothing. It's hella flat.” Since her very first single, Willow has not had an insane amount of success from her music. People don’t generally know her for her songs, but simply for her parents.
Another interesting point that comes to mind with nepotism is that these kids have prior expectations for their success. It raises the question of, if Willow didn’t have famous parents, would the public have been so harsh on her? Would they have just said she was a kid having fun? Another interesting case of nepotism is Hailey Bieber. Although most people know her as the wife of Justin Bieber, Hailey has a famous parent. Her dad is Stephen Baldwin, most famous for his role as Barney Rubble in The Flintstones (2000) and The Usual Suspects (1995). Hailey skipped over acting and went straight to modeling, but has gone onto other things like hosting her own talk show, Who’s In My Bathroom, and starting a skin-care/makeup company called Rhode. On her show she invited a fellow nepotism baby: Gwyneth Paltrow. When Hailey asked Gwyneth for her opinion on nepotism, Gwyneth said, “Well, my mom (Blythe Danner) is an actress so I sort of grew up on set and in theaters watching her. So I kind of wanted to do what she did. And look I think it's fair because as the child of somebody [famous] you get the access that other people don’t have. So the playing field is not level in that way. However, I really do feel that once your foot is in the door, which you unfairly got in, then you have to work almost twice as hard and be twice as good because people are ready to pull you down and say you don’t belong there and that you're only there because of your parents.”
One of the most famous nepotism babies in the industry is Lily-Rose Depp, daughter of Johnny Depp and Vannessa Paradis. She is one of very few nepotism babies who has a pretty controversial opinion about this whole issue. When speaking to Australian Vogue she said, “It is obviously a really easy assumption to make to think that I would just have roles landing on my doorstep because of my name, but that’s an idea I’ve always kind of rejected.” In the big trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard this past year, it was revealed that Johnny Depp played a big part in helping Heard land the role of Mera in Aquaman, increasing the chances that he would and has done something similar for his daughter.
The biggest question with nepotism babies is would they have gotten to where they are today without their name, or their parents? Are nepotism babies truly talented? Is nepotism even fair?