Nepo babies have never faced so much hate

Mel B‘s daughter Phoenix Brown has weighed in on the nepotism debate and has shared that “Nepo babies have never faced so much hate”.

As defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a nepo baby – or nepotism baby – is a person who gains success or opportunities through familial connections
especially a child of a famous parent (such as an actor, musician, entrepreneur, or politician).

In a feature for Radio Times, Brown opened up about the term, sharing that “the term has increasingly toxic connotations” and took the time to question why. “Even when nepo babies are great at their job – and many are – they face a backlash fuelled by misunderstanding, jealousy or resentment,” she explained.

Brown acknowledged the leverage she has with her mother being one of the Spice Girls, admitting that “having Mel B as my mum has opened a few doors” within the path for her own career in entertainment as an aspiring DJ and presenter.

She discussed the rise in anger towards nepo babies in recent years and claimed that it was  “almost to the point of obsession” on social media. Brown also questioned if “nepo babies [were] taking the flak for wider inequality in society?”

Back in October 2024, Brown presented a documentary titled Born In The Limelight Nepo Babies: UNTOLD. In the documentary, Brown shared: “Nepo babies must acknowledge that we’re handed opportunities faster than most people.”

She continued: “As my mum says in the documentary, she came from a working-class background and had no one to open doors for her. I wouldn’t have the life that I have if it wasn’t for the hard work that she put into her own career. To not respect that would be silly.”

Brown is not the first to comment on the “nepo baby” title. Lily Allen – who is the daughter of actor Keith Allen – addressed the title last year, claiming that it was a sexist label.

“’Nepo babies’, I think it’s quite like ‘Karen’, in the sense that it’s just a word that is basically used for women who are taking up space and we’d rather they didn’t and they should just go away,” Allen said on the Miss Me? podcast (via The Independent).

She continued, explaining that her relation to her father, actor Keith Allen, gets brought up much more than it does for her brother – Game Of Thrones actor Alfie Allen.

“It’s meant to be infantilising. Also, I think it’s something that is almost exclusively used for women, I don’t think I can even really name any male ‘nepo babies’. My brother, for instance, doesn’t get called ‘nepo baby’ and I do,” she added.

Others to speak out against the term and brand it as sexist include actor Lily-Rose Depp – daughter of Johnny Depp and French singer Vanessa Paradis – who said that it “doesn’t make any sense” and is only used against women.

“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 said. “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.”

Others to share their opinion on the phrase include Gwyneth Paltrow – who back in 2023 described the term as an “ugly moniker” while supporting her daughter’s career as a Chanel Model – as well as Noel Gallagher’s daughter Anaïs, who works as a photographer and model, and Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet’s daughter Zoë Kravitz, who has starred in The Batman, High Fidelity and more.

New Girl star Zooey Deschanel also weighed in, insisting that being the daughter of six-time Oscar-nominated cinematographer Caleb Deschanel (The Lion King, The Passion of Christ, The Godfather and Titanic) did not make it easier for her to break into the industry.

Willow Smith – singer, songwriter and daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith – recently revealed that she felt a sense of “insecurity” when it comes to being a ‘nepo baby’ ahead of the release of her album ‘Empathogen’.

Emma Roberts – the daughter of the Oscar and Golden Globe-nominated actor Eric Roberts (The Dark Knight, Inherent Vice) and the niece of Julia Roberts – previously opened up on how being a “nepo baby” had actually led her to be turned down for jobs in Hollywood.

“I’ve lost more jobs than I’ve gained from being in the business,” she told Flaunt magazine. “People have opinions and sometimes maybe they’re not good opinions of people in your family. I’ve never gotten a job because of it, I know I definitely have lost a couple of jobs because of it.”

She also spoke about the difficulty of people assuming she has it easy and ignoring the failures that she has had to endure.

Actor Michael Douglas – the son of the late Kirk Douglas, who was widely regarded as one of Hollywood’s greatest actors – shared that he disliked the term, saying: “Who doesn’t try to help his son?”

Jack Quaid – the son of actors Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid – revealed that agrees with being labelled a “nepo baby”, Speaking on The Daily Beast’s The Last Laugh podcast, he said: “No matter what I do, people are going to call attention to it. People have called me a ‘nepo baby’. I’m inclined to agree.

“I am an immensely privileged person, was able to get representation pretty early on, and that’s more than half the battle. I knew the door was open for me in a lot of ways that it’s just not for a lot of actors. And I’ve just tried to work as hard as I possibly can to prove that I deserve to walk through that door.”

However, his mother Meg Ryan pushed back against labelling her son Jack as a ‘nepo baby’: “Jack is really talented. He’s more of a natural than I’ll ever be. That nepo stuff is so dismissive of his work ethic, his gifts, and how sensitive he is to the idea of his privilege.”

Kings Of Leon frontman Caleb Followill also shared his thoughts on “nepo babies” and said that he won’t be “giving my kids shit” to help advance their careers.

I May Destroy You creator Michaela Coel previously stated that she finds it “hilarious” when ‘nepo babies’ don’t understand their privilege when it comes to opportunity and access in industries.