There’s three constants in life: death, taxes, and nepo baby discourse. Today, it’s Emma Roberts’s turn at bat.
Emma — who, as you well know, is Julia Roberts’s niece as well as Eric Roberts’s daughter — recently appeared on the Table for Two with Bruce Bozzi podcast, and during the interview she ended up getting into it about the whole nepo baby thing.
“That’s the thing that I always talk about — people kind of only see your wins because they only see when you’re on the poster of a movie,” she said. “They don’t see all the rejection along the way.”
“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 went on to claim that there are “two sides” to being a nepo baby, one of which isn’t always seen through the eyes of the general public.
“People like to say, ‘You know, you have a leg up because you have family in the industry,'” she said. “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.”
“I think there’s something to be said where everybody loves the kind of overnight success story. And so 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.'”
Emma also pointed out that even George freakin’ Clooney is technically a nepo baby — and she made the valid point that, when it comes to who faces criticism in the entertainment industry, it’s usually not men who get the short end of the stick.
“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.”
You can listen to the entire interview here.