Lily-Rose Depp Thinks It Is "Weird" To Call Her a "Nepo Baby"

Lily-Rose Depp is pushing back against the label of "nepo baby," short for "nepotism baby." Depp, the daughter of Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis, rejects the idea that her famous parents helped her in her career.

"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.' It’s like, 'No, I went to medical school and trained,'" she told Elle.

Depp also shared she thinks the internet, and general public, cares more about nepotism than casting directors. "The internet seems to care a lot about that kind of stuff. 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," she shared. "The internet cares a lot more about who your family is than the people who are casting you in things. 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."

Depp also disliked what she implies was the misogyny of the term, saying, "I just hear it a lot more about women, and I don’t think that it’s a coincidence." Later on in the interview, Depp added, "I feel like for a lot of my career, people have really wanted to define me by the men in my life, whether that’s my family members or my boyfriends, whatever. And I’m really ready to be defined for the things that I put out there."

The backlash to her comments online was swift. Franchesca Ramsey, a writer and actress, tweeted, "This analogy is silly. Medical school is nothing like acting school. Also Lily did not go to acting school." She continued, "A more mature response would be 'I’m so lucky to have family that supported my career & helped open doors for me. I would never take that for granted. I’m just trying to make them proud & show people that I even with my connections I have the talent to stay in this industry.'"

Others joked, like Drag Race UK star River Medway tweeting her comments "sounds like something a nepo baby would say."

Depp's new show, The Idol, premieres sometime in 2023 on HBO Max.

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