Jamie Lee Curtis says the ‘nepo baby’ conversation is ‘designed to try to diminish and denigrate’
By Dan Heching, CNN
Jamie Lee Curtis is opening up about her experiences in Hollywood as the child of movie stars, prompted by the current conversation around ‘nepo babies‘ — the term for children of notable figures whose familial ties are thought to have helped them find exposure and fame themselves.
The actress, who is the daughter of “Psycho” star Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis of “Some Like It Hot” fame, posted to Instagram on Friday and immediately identified herself as an “OG Nepo Baby,” saying she’s been a working actress since she was 19 years old.
“There’s not a day in my professional life that goes by without my being reminded that I am the daughter of movie stars,” she wrote, adding that “the current conversation about nepo babies is just designed to try to diminish and denigrate and hurt.”
Curtis reflected on her 44-year career and said she’s navigated show business “with the advantages my associated and reflected fame brought me,” adding that she doesn’t “pretend there aren’t any.”
“It’s curious how we immediately make assumptions and snide remarks that someone related to someone else who is famous in their field for their art, would somehow have no talent whatsoever,” she wrote. “I have come to learn that is simply not true.”
Over the course of her career, the “Everything Everywhere All at Once” star said she’s shown up to work with “thousands of thousands of people and every day I’ve tried to bring integrity and professionalism and love and community and art to my work.”
“I am not alone. There are many of us,” she added. “Dedicated to our craft. Proud of our lineage. Strong in our belief in our right to exist.”
Curtis is not the only famous offspring to speak up about the nepo baby conversation.
O’Shea Jackson Jr., son of Ice Cube who portrayed his father in the film “Straight Outta Compton,” tweeted that he was already in college for screenwriting at The University of Southern California when his father floated out the possibility of him acting in the film.
“I accepted the challenge. And auditioned for two years before getting the role,” he wrote on Twitter. “After that it was up to me, he couldn’t hold my hand through my career.”
While Curtis and Jackson chose to respond to the ‘nepo baby’ brouhaha — which gained momentum this week after a Vulture cover article on the topic showed various famous children of stars in diapers in a maternity ward — by underscoring their commitment to their profession, others were more cheeky.
“Omg please can all the Nepo babies unite and dress up as giant babies for Halloween,” Eve Hewson, daughter of U2’s Bono and star of Apple TV+’s “Bad Sisters” tweeted, among several other funny comments.
The-CNN-Wire
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