Jamie Lee Curtis says ‘nepo baby’ conversation is meant to ‘diminish and denigrate and hurt’ people

Jamie Lee Curtis has said that the conversation about “nepo babies” is designed to “hurt” actors with famous parents.

In recent months, the term –short for “nepotism babies” – has circulated online as Generation Z learnt that many of their favourite actors are the children of famous performers.

The discourse came to a head last week after New York Magazine released their latest cover, dubbing 2022 “The Year of the Nepo Baby” with the headline: “She has her mother’s eyes. And agent.”

On Friday (23 December), Curtis, who is the daughter of Some Like It Hot star Tony Curtis and Psycho’s Janet Leigh, weighed in on the topic as she shared two throwback photos with her parents on Instagram.

“I have been a professional actress since I was 19 years old so that makes me an OG Nepo Baby,” she wrote. “I’ve never understood, nor will I, what qualities got me hired that day… but there’s not a day in my professional life that goes by without my being reminded that I am the daughter of movie stars.

“The current conversation about nepo babies is just designed to try to diminish and denigrate and hurt. For the record I have navigated 44 years with the advantages my associated and reflected fame brought me, I don’t pretend there aren’t any, that try to tell me that I have no value on my own.”

She continued: “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. I have come to learn that is simply not true.

“I am not alone. There are many of us. Dedicated to our craft. Proud of our lineage. Strong in our belief in our right to exist.”

Curtis’s post divided fans, with the top comment reading: “The issue is not that nepo babies have no talent. The issue is that many of them don’t acknowledge the privilege they have had in the industry to get them where they are and then attribute their success only to their own talent.”

“Jamie, I absolutely adore and admire your work! Still, it’s important to shed some light on how unfairly balanced fame and success are, and I think that’s the main point of the nepo baby conversation,” another fan wrote.

However, Curtis has previously admitted that her parents’ fame gave her a “leg up” in her career.

Speaking about being cast in the 1978 film Halloween in a 2019 interview with The New Yorker, Curtis said that she auditioned many times until the part was between her and another actor.

“I’m sure the fact that I was Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis’s daughter, and that my mother had been in Psycho – if you’re going to choose between this one and this one, choose the one whose mother was in Psycho, because it will get some press for you.

“I’m never going to pretend that I just got that on my own, like I’m just a little girl from nowhere getting it. Clearly, I had a leg up.”

Another Hollywood star to discuss her own nepotism recently is Kate Hudson, who opened up about being the daughter of Goldie Hawn in a new interview with The Independent.

“When I was starting out, if anybody asked me about them, I’d always try and change the subject,” Hudson said. “I really wanted to have my own career. Once I was a good decade in, though, I realised it just didn’t matter.”

Asked how she felt about the “nepo baby” label, the actor said that she didn’t “really care”, adding: “I look at my kids and we’re a storytelling family. It’s definitely in our blood. People can call it whatever they want, but it’s not going to change it.”