Gwyneth Paltrow Recalled Her "Awesome" Babysitter, And It Was A Much, Much Younger Jack Bauer From "24"
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Gwyneth Paltrow revealed that she had a famous babysitter, which makes sense, considering her "nepo baby" history.
The debate surrounding celebrities considered "nepo babies" comes and goes. Names are constantly thrown around, like Kate Hudson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ben Stiller, and more, because they don't have just one famous parent, but two — just like Gwyneth.
Gwyneth is an Academy Award–winning actor with a well-established career, from 1998's Shakespeare in Love to the first phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Miramax / © Miramax / Courtesy Everett Collection, Null / © Walt Disney Co. / Courtesy Everett / Everett Collection
In addition to her acting career, she's the CEO and founder of the lifestyle company Goop.
But before her rise to stardom, she was also the daughter of Bruce Paltrow, a television and film director and producer of shows like St. Elsewhere, who died in 2002.
Her mother is Tony- and Emmy-winning actor Blythe Danner. Her career spans almost six decades and includes movies and TV shows like Will & Grace and the Meet the Parents trilogy.
Blythe's brother Harry Danner is also an actor who has performed in theater, TV, and movies.
Gwyneth's younger brother, Jake Paltrow, is an actor and filmmaker who directed episodes of NYPD Blue and collaborated with Noah Baumbach on the 2015 Brian De Palma documentary De Palma.
So, with a prominent Hollywood family like the Paltrow-Danner clan, it only makes sense that if anybody's going to babysit a young Gwyneth and Jake, it should be somebody who can relate to their fortunate circumstances.
During her new episode of Hot Ones to promote the Good.Clean.Goop product line, Gwyneth revealed that she had a super-famous babysitter once upon a time.
Kiefer Sutherland.
"Isn't that cool?" she said. "I was at the Williamstown Theater Festival, where my mom was doing plays, and he was an apprentice."
"And he babysat me and my brother. And he was awesome," Gwyneth added.
What's funny about this is that Kiefer can also be considered a "nepo baby," since the award-winning actor comes from a famous family too.
Kiefer's mother is the late Shirley Douglas, a successful actor who appeared in movies and TV shows like Wind at My Back.
Kiefer's dad is Donald Sutherland, an actor whose roles range from Matthew Bennell in 1978's Invasion of the Body Snatchers to President Snow in The Hunger Games franchise.
Kiefer's siblings Rossif and Angus are also actors, and their brother Roeg works for one of the leading talent agencies, CAA.
According to People magazine, Kiefer discussed babysitting Gwyneth in a 2009 interview: "I was working in a theater with [Gwyneth's] mother ... and I believe on a couple of occasions, I was asked to look after her for an hour or two."
"I think it was very funny because it's unbelievable how fast someone goes from 13 to 18, and obviously they look so different that when Gwyneth started to work, I thought, Well, that must be another girl, because I always remember her as being 11 or 12 years old," Kiefer said.
It's wild to picture that this version of Kiefer was babysitting a teeny Gwyneth and her brother.
Kiefer and Gwyneth aren't the only ones. Other celebrities had famous babysitters: Chloë Sevigny babysat Topher Grace, Cher babysat Anthony Kiedis, and Tia and Tamera Mowry babysat Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.
Perhaps that intense "hour or two" of babysitting prepared him for his role as Jack Bauer in 24 — or before becoming Thomas Kirkman in that Netflix political drama, he was the "Designated Babysitter."
I guess you could call Kiefer a nepo babysitter.
But I must add that I believe the term "nepo baby" is a bit unfair, considering that it takes a little more than a famous parent or two to sustain long-lasting, successful careers like Gwyneth's and Kiefer's.
Check out Gwyneth's Hot Ones episode here.
