By Sloan Glover
WTF IS A NEPOTISM BABY?
Over the last two days, we’ve seen Lily-Rose Depp in the media, not for her runway shows but for her active denial of being a “nepo baby” that Vittori Ceretti has brought up. A “nepo baby” or “nepotism baby” is a child of a famous actor or celebrity who got famous due to nepotism in the industry. The children of these celebrities are able to rise up in their chosen careers successfully solely due to their famous parents who started their careers. We can see these famous parents having famous children today like Clint Eastwood and Scott Eastwood, John Drew Barrymore and Drew Barrymore, Lenny Kravitz and Zoë Kravitz, Will Smith and Jaden and Willow Smith, and Ethan Hawke and Maya Hawke.
WHY IS EVERYONE MAD AT LILY-ROSE?
The controversy and conversation stirred when Ceretti went to covertly talk on her IG story about Lily-Rose Depp and how while the majority of models in the industry are stationed far from home, don’t have the money to make it home or have an entourage to take care of their every need, nepo babies have that luxury. She ends her discussion by saying “…I can’t stand listening to you compare yourself to me. I was not born on a comfy sexy pillow with a view. I know it’s not your fault, but please, appreciate and know the place you came from.” Ceretti believes that Depp wouldn’t “lasted through the first five years of my career.”
Lily-Rose Depp opened the conversation by saying, “I can definitely say that nothing is going to get you the part except for being right for the part,” and “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.” One point brought up showing a piece of her nepotism is Lily-Rose Depp is around 5’3 feet and is a fair height difference from usual fashion models who start at 5’9 feet. The runway model industry has very strict standards, and many models aren’t even able to enter the field of modeling they want because of those height standards yet Depp is able to breeze past them. Many models in the industry have worked for years to decades to build up a name for themselves in the industry yet “nepo babies” are able to come into the industry casting roles due to their names. Many casting directors or modeling directors cast these nepotism babies, not for their spectacular ability in the fields they’re applying for but because allowing their name to be in the show will bring more publicity and their celebrity parents wouldn’t look down on the organization. Depp went as far as comparing her millionaire status at birth to if someone’s parents were in the medical field as being a doctor they wouldn’t be facing the same criticism and wouldn’t be called a “nepo baby”. She said, “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. 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.” This isn’t the same as although being a sometimes doctor does come with wealth it doesn’t come with fame which is especially important in the field she and her parents are in. She’s able to capitalize off her parents being very famous which is more important than wealth in creating connections in the entertainment industry she’s in. Overall, I’m not dismissing Depp’s ability to model she still has a status that the majority of other models don’t have because they’re not the children of celebrities.
Lilly-Rose walking Chanel at age 17
Vanessa Paradis (mother of Lily-Rose) for Chanel in 1990
Lily-Rose for Chanel 2016
Actresses like Maya Hawke have taken a positive approach to be a “nepo baby” by acknowledging that she has an immense amount of privilege to get the roles she’d like. She says, “I’m very grateful for the fact that my parents made it so easy for me to do the thing that I love,” and, “I think I’ll get a couple chances on their name, and then if I suck, I’ll get kicked out of the kingdom… And that’s what should happen. So I’m just going to try not to suck.” When we look at actresses like Lily-Rose Depp who won’t acknowledge their status of a “nepo baby” it’s damaging to the many other models who are fighting to get to the same level without a famous family to fall back on.
WHAT BLACK MODELS HAD TO SAY ABOUT LILY-ROSE’S STATEMENTS
NOIRELLA 