Welcome to ‘Showtime with Emily Maddick’, in which GLAMOUR'S Assistant Editor and Entertainment Director brings a unique perspective to the month's most hyped film or TV show. For January’s instalment, Emily reviews the Channel 4 documentary Born in the Limelight: Nepo Babies UNTOLD. The show sees DJ and presenter, Phoenix Brown, daughter of Spice Girl, Melanie Brown, explore the rampant and rabid rise of the term ‘nepo baby’ to describe the equally rampant rise of the children of celebrities in the entertainment industry, seemingly purely down to their privilege and parents’ connections. Emily, who has worked with Phoenix in the past, shares her view that while this is clearly nepotism at play, it seems nepo babies are being blamed for society’s inequalities and hating on them is not the answer.
I recently read Lisa Marie Presley’s beautiful memoir, From Here to The Great Unknown, which her daughter, actor and writer, Riley Keough, completed as co-author following her mother’s death aged 54 in 2023. The book offers a fascinating insight into the life of Elvis’ only child, both the highs and the lows, but my overwhelming takeaway after finishing it was one of sadness for Lisa Marie, who is arguably the OG of nepo babies. Of course she was born into unimaginable privilege and universally feted as American royalty, but the burden she carried as the daughter of the ‘King of Rock and Roll’ was one that she battled with her entire life, along with addiction, failed relationships and the devastating impact of the loss of her son, Benjamin, to suicide in 2020. Indeed, she herself said: “Being Elvis Presley’s daughter is a whole lot of pressure. It’s been a constant burden in my life. I don’t deal well with admiration if it’s for something I haven’t done.”
It would be easy to dismiss this as, “oh boo hoo, cry me a river poor little rich girl” But rarely is it helpful to make a prejudiced opinion on someone before learning more about them, especially if the judgement is based on something they have no control over, such as the circumstances of their birth. It’s not progressive. And for that reason, there’s a large part of me that feels sorry for nepo babies enduring the current spate of nepo baby hate that has consumed our cultural discourse in recent years.
Look, I do not want to be accused of being a “privilege apologist” here and I wholeheartedly understand the frustrations and inequality at play when these genetic lottery winners seem to be using their platform of privilege to leapfrog up the career ladder, achieving the same status as their megastar parents - often without the talent or hard graft required of lesser mortals. And by that, I mean lesser socio-economicly fortunate individuals. It’s shit. It’s hard, fast proof of society’s gross inequality, glaring for all to see in the glossy world of showbiz - and in most of your favourite TV shows. But it’s the toxic levels of nepo-baby bating that has blown up online and in the media in recent years, that I take issue with.
There’s a clear divide: the nepo babies getting it right, who are talented and therefore more palatable, and the ones getting it wrong, making their privilege clear and uncomfortable to watch.
Which is why I applaud DJ and presenter, Phoenix Brown, 25-year-old daughter of Mel ‘Scary Spice’ Brown for her new documentary: Born in the Limelight: Nepo Babies UNTOLD, which airs Thursday 16 January on Channel 4.
In the one-hour programme, Phoenix explores how society views those born to the rich and famous within the context of the rabid rise of the phrase ‘nepo baby’ and the hate that has accompanied it. Phoenix is refreshingly self-aware about both her birthright privilege and also the pitfalls that have come with it such as bullying and enduring your family life being played out in public. But having delved into the subject, she asks the question as to whether nepo babies are taking the flak for wider inequalities in society? And I think she may have a point.
“I can’t deny that having Mel B as my mum has opened a few doors. However, there’s been rising anger in recent years with what appears to be more and more children of famous people making it in the entertainment industry,” Phoenix said last week. “Even when nepo babies are great at their job, they face a backlash fuelled by misunderstanding, jealousy or resentment. The issue has never before sparked so much hate or become so febrile and poisonous.”
In the documentary, Phoenix, posing as an artist with hastily created, crude, smiley face canvases conducts an experiment to see how far having a famous Mum will get her in the art world. In cahoots with a Slade Art School graduate called Betty, who is sadly very much struggling to forge a career, the pair endeavour to drum up support for their respective work by approaching figures in the art world; Phoenix with her bogus art and her Mum’s name, Betty with her legit credentials and talent. Unsurprisingly, Phoenix receives more interest than Betty, who receives zero feedback. In fact, Phoenix gets a central London gallery exhibition, a slew of press interviews and her work - most of which she sells - is valued at £2,000 a piece by experts, even though decoratively it only holds value of £30. One art expert says that the sheer fact that she is Mel B’s daughter automatically gives anything she creates more added value, like DNA-created Intellectual Property. Betty’s art, despite her Slade School graduate pedigree, is valued at half that of Phoenix’s. It is deeply depressing. And Pheonix is the first to admit this.
The term ‘nepo baby’ took off two years ago when New York Magazine hailed, 2022, ‘the year of the nepo baby’, after the success of actors such as Lily-Rose Depp (daughter of Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis), Jack Quaid (son of Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan) Zoe Kravitz (daughter of Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet), Dakota Johnson (daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith) and Maud Apatow (daughter of Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann) amongst others.
“Nepo baby: How could two little words cause so much conflict?” asked the publication as part of its nepo baby themed issue. “A baby is a bundle of joy; a nepo baby is physical proof that meritocracy is a lie. We love them, we hate them, we disrespect them, we’re obsessed with them.”
Phoenix explores the complicated backlash against nepo babies in a new documentary.
And it’s true, we are. I have always been obsessed with them and have interviewed many celeb sprogs throughout my career - asking each one of them about nepotism - from Lily Allen and Lily Collins to Paris Hilton and Willow Smith, which has yielded me much insight on the matter, mainly that all are deeply earnest to acknowledge their privilege at every turn. Mind you, most of these interviews took place before the blazing rise of the nepo baby phenomenon and now there’s a trend amongst over-cautious publicists to ban questions around nepotism, such is its febrile nature. Indeed, Phoenix reveals that she approached 90 fellow nepo babies to appear in her documentary and only one, Ronan Keating’s DJ son, Jack, would participate.
I also have personal interest in Pheonix’s project as I had a hand in being a nepo baby enabler back in 2018, when I gave Phoenix an internship at the magazine I worked for at the time. In fact, Phoenix talks about it in the documentary when Betty suggests she create a CV and the only work experience Phoenix has is her week working for me.
For the record, yes, when a mutual friend of Mel B’s and mine asked if Phoenix could intern for us, I - and my editor - jumped at the opportunity. What fun having a Spice Girl’s daughter in the office! Maybe she’ll give us some gossip? Maybe Mel will do an interview on the back of it? These are all the thoughts that went through our heads when we eagerly signed up the then 18-year-old Phoenix to jump the queue of non nepo baby candidates for a week of coffee runs, tidying the fashion cupboard and help filming some vox pops for the website. For the record, Phoenix did not give us any gossip, in fact she never once voluntarily mentioned her Mum, and Mel did not give us an interview on the back of it. She did however work very hard, was smart, polite, professional and seemed to go the extra mile to prove herself.
The term ‘nepotism baby’ or its shortened version “nepo baby” are the children of celebrities.
What also frustrates me about the nepo baby discourse is that nepotism has, of course, been around since the dawn of time. What’s more, you find it in almost every industry and I’m not just talking about the obvious ones: media, the city, legal practices…take a walk down any High Street across the country and you’ll see handfuls of small businesses named ‘and son’ (occasionally even ‘and daughter’!) - from funeral directors to florists. Which makes it all the more clear that the celebrity nepo babies are in the firing line because they’re in the public eye. It stands to reason that a society obsessed with celebrities is going to be obsessed with their kids. I get it. They’re born not only with a silver spoon in their mouth, but with a target on their back. Equally, as Phoenix points out in the doc, as inequality in society becomes ever more apparent and the gap between the rich and the poor grows wider, nepo babies become even more of an easy scapegoat and punchbag. And if they’re perceived to have no talent or have it too easy from their parents, such as the multi-careered Brooklyn Beckham, who has lurched from fashion model, to elephant photographer, to toasted cheese sandwich chef, to hot sauce entrepreneur, all before the age of 25 - it is understandable why they’re seen as fair game.
But what I enjoyed about Pheonix’s documentary is that at least here’s a nepo baby trying to do something interesting with their status and also trying to shed light on the grossly unfair inequalities in society. It made me reflect on my own hand in promoting such inequities, giving Phoenix a leg up with work experience due purely to her Mum’s status. It’s not cool. And now, seven years later, it feels like a tone deaf moment. I am however proud to say that our industry is changing and since then, much more work is being done to ensure equal opportunities for candidates from diverse backgrounds.
As Phoenix herself says: “It's clear there is a problem [with nepotism] and I don’t have all the answers, but we will get nowhere by targeting nepo babies as individuals. We must explore the bigger societal issues.” adding, “It’s time to end the hate and dig deeper.” And I couldn’t agree more.
Born In The Limelight: Nepo Babies - UNTOLD is available to stream now on Channel 4 and airs on Thursday 16 January at 12:05am.
For more from GLAMOUR's Assistant Editor and Entertainment Director, Emily Maddick, follow her on Instagram @emilymaddick.
