Nepo baby explained: Meaning, examples and celebrity reactions

Wondering what nepo baby means and who qualifies as one? We've explained the term and shared examples of the mini-mes that fit the label.

The cult of celebrity is a fascinating one that has dominated headlines and fuelled fandoms for centuries. Famous for their professional endeavours, human interest naturally extends into celebrities' personal lives too, from their romantic relationships and millionare mansions to even their own offspring. 

It's the latter that has captured public discourse in the last few years, with new term 'nepo baby' continuing to do the rounds. Long after we've cast opinion on the celebrity baby name (opens in new tab) and cooed over the baby pictures of celebrities with twins (opens in new tab), we often see some of these celebrity children grown up and following in their parent's footsteps. But how much of this is merit and not mum or dad's influence? We explain what nepo baby means and who is in the current Hollywood crop of nepo babies.

What does nepo baby mean?

Nepo baby refers to the child of a famous person, who when of age, has forged a career in a similar industry and achieved success due to their parent's name, reputation or connections.

Nepo is a shortened version of the term 'nepotism' which Collins Dictionary (opens in new tab) defines as "the unfair use of power in order to get jobs or other benefits for your family or friends." As for the baby part - it's used to signify that they are a famous person's offspring rather than being an actual baby. As such a Nepo baby can be any age.

The term 'nepo baby' and it's use in everyday language has grown in popularity of late following the publication of a New York Magazine feature (opens in new tab) in December 2022. The media outlet ran a front page article with the headline "She has her mother's eyes. And agent." in which they overanalysed "Hollywood's nepo baby boom". The cover included celebrities such as Dakota Johnson, Lily Rose-Depp, Maya Hawke, Ben Platt, Zoe Kravitz and Maude Apatow - all of whom have famous parents in the film and music industry.

Whilst the term is not exactly a new one, New York Magazine dubbed 2022 the 'year of the nepo baby' due to increased interest in the famous familial connections of some of Hollywood's rising stars. It in part referred to an incident in February of last year when a tweet went viral for discovering nepotism in the cast of HBO show Euphoria.

Meriem Derradji tweeted: "Wait I just found out that the actress that plays Lexie is a nepotism baby omg her mom is Leslie Mann and her dad is a movie director lol." Referring to actress Maude Apatow, Meriem correctly identified that she is the eldest daughter of actress Leslie Mann and film director Judd Apatow, who is behind hits such as The 40-Year-Old Viirgin, Knocked Up and This is 40.

The tweet led to a wider social media discussion on nepotism in the film industry in particular. Though nepo babies also exist in the music and fashion business too.

Who is a nepo baby? Famous examples

Nepo babies in film and TV

• Kate Hudson (mum - actress Goldie Hawn, dad - musician Bill Hudson)
• Gwyneth Paltrow (mum - Blythe Danner, dad - Bruce Paltrow)
• Maude Apatow (mum - actress Leslie Man, dad - director Judd Apatow)
• Zoe Kravitz (mum - actress Lisa Bonet, dad - musician Lenny Kravitz)
• Dakota Johnson (mum - Melanie Griffith, dad - actor Don Johnson)
• Lily Rose-Depp (mum - actress Vanessa Paradis, dad - actor Johnny Depp)
• Maya Hawke (mum - actress Uma Thurman, dad - actor Ethan Hawke)
• Billie Lourd (mum - actress Carrie Fisher, grandmother Debbie Reynolds)
• Laura Dern (mum - actress Diana Ladd, dad - actor Bruce Dern)
• Keifer Sutherland (mum - actress Shirley Douglas, dad - actor Donald Sutherland)
• Michael Douglas (mum - actress Diana Douglas, dad - actor Kirk Douglas)
• John David Washington (mum - actress Pauletta Washington, dad - actor Denzel Washington)
• Rumer Willis (mum - actress Demi Moore, dad - actor Bruce Willis)
• George Clooney (dad - talk show host Nick Clooney)
• Lily Collins (dad - musician Phil Collins)
• Jane Fonda (dad - actor Henry Fonda)
• Angelina Jolie (dad - John Voight)
• Angelica Huston (dad - John Huston)
• Alexander Skaragard (dad - actor Stellan Skarsgaard)
• Margaret Qualley (mum - actress Andie Macdowell)

Nepo babies in music

• Miley Cyrus (dad - musician Billy Ray Cyrus)
• Norah Jones (dad - musician Ravi Shankar)
• Lily Allen (dad - actor Keith Allen)
• Mabel (mum - musician Neneh Cherry)
• Willow Smith (mum - actress Jada Pinkett Smith, dad - actor Will Smith)
• King Combs (dad - rapper P Diddy/Sean Coombs)
• Robin Thicke (dad - actor Alan Thicke)
• Gracie Abrams (dad - filmmaker JJ Abrams)

Nepo babies in fashion

• Kendall Jenner (mums - momager Kris Jenner and Caitlin Jenner)
• Kaia Gerber (mum - model CIndy Crawford)
• Bella Hadid (mum - model and reality TV star Yolanda Hadid)
• Gigi Hadid (mum - model and reality TV star Yolanda Hadid)
• Hailee Baldwin (dad - actor Stephen Baldwin)
• Lila Moss (mum - model Kate Moss)
• Leni Klum (mum - model Heidi Klum)
• Iris Law (mum - actress Sadie Frost, dad - actor Jude Law)
• Eve Jobs (dad - Apple founder Steve Jobs)
• Anais Gallagher (dad - musician Noel Gallagher)
• Paris Brosnan (dad - actor Pierce Brosnan)
• Deva Cassel (mum - actress Monica Bellucci, dad - actor Vincent Cassel)

Nepo baby reactions

Lily Allen took to Twitter to weigh in on the nepo baby debate following the New York Magazine profile. Accepting that she is a nepo baby herself (dad Keith Allen), she shared how nepo babies are essentially everywhere and not just confined to Hollywood.

The singer pointed out that there are many in politics, law and financial services and cited these to be wary of "if we’re talking about real world consequences and robbing people of opportunity".

Another nepo baby made light of the article. Actress Eve Hewson (who recently starred in Bad Sisters on AppleTV) is the daughter of Irish musician Bono. "Gonna get Nepo Baby tattooed on my a**," she joked. She also shared the feature she was mentioned in on Twitter (opens in new tab) alonside the caption: "I HAVE JUST BEEN MADE AWARE I HIT MY 2023 GOALS AND IT’S STILL 2022."

Whilst recognising their privilege, some nepo babies have shared how that sometimes being in the shadow of your parent's success can actually make it more difficult. Model and actress Lily-Rose Depp (the daughter of actor Johnny Depp and French singer Vanessa Paradis) told ELLE (opens in new tab): "People are going to have preconceived ideas about you or how you got there, and 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," she added. "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."

Working harder to earn your place was something similarly echoed by nepo babies Gywneth Paltrow and Hailey Baldwin (now Bieber). Appearing as a guest on Bieber's  Who's in my Bathroom? Youtube video (opens in new tab), Gwyneth shared that "once your foot is in the door, which you unfairly got in, then you almost have to work twice as hard and be twice as good".

As for Maude Apatow, aka the actress who spurred the viral tweet in February 2022 - she finds the label "sad" for recognising her upbringing and not her talent. She told Net-A-Porter (opens in new tab):  "I try not to let it get to me because I obviously understand that I’m in such a lucky position. A lot of people [in a similar position] have proven themselves over the years, so I’ve got to keep going and make good work. 

"It’s so early in my career, I don’t have much to show yet, but hopefully one day, I’ll be really proud of the stuff I’ve done by myself."

Apatow added that despite the nepo baby judgement, she herself is her harshest critic and sometimes she has to not take it all too seriously.  

"I’m always hard on myself. Sometimes I get in my head and think, Why would anyone want to hear what I have to say?" she adds. "Then I tell myself, It doesn’t matter, it’s just entertainment. I try to clear my head of any of those thoughts. You can’t constantly judge yourself—it’s such a creativity killer."

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