Laura Dern has criticised the discussion around Hollywood “nepo babies”, branding the debate “insane”.
Dern, 58, who rose to fame through films such as Blue Velvet and Jurassic Park, is the daughter of Silent Running actor Bruce Dern and Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore’s Diane Ladd.
In recent years, the term “nepo baby” has been used, often disparagingly, to describe the children of celebrities who go on to pursue careers in show business themselves.
Speaking to The Telegraph in a new interview, Dern was asked about the term, with the interviewer suggesting that “these days” the term would be wielded against her.
“It’s insane,” Dern responded. “I’m curious if anyone’s ever called your local butcher whose kids take over the business a ‘nepo baby’. Or a milliner.
“It is absurd. When I started, I definitely wanted to be my own person and separate myself and have casting directors not mention my parents, because you want to stand on your own.”
“Back then, there wasn’t ‘nepo’ anything; it was part of a legacy story – I was raised in this industry,” she continued. “But this generation? My kids’ age? It’s like it’s an embarrassing scarlet letter they’re wearing. I guess social media has done that…”
Dern’s own children, whom she shares with musician Ben Harper, her ex-husband, have also gone into the entertainment industry.
Ellery, her son, is a musician, and Jaya, her daughter, is an actor.
“They’re the greatest people I’ve ever met,” Dern . “I’m not trying to be a good mum, I just want to hang out with them. I just want to listen to their brains at work…”
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Ladd died in November, of respiratory failure, at the age of 89.
In the same interview, Dern paid tribute to her mother’s off-screen activism, describing how it had influenced her own life.
“What I learnt from Jane Fonda, and my mum, and Gena Rowlands, and Shelley Winters, these women who raised me, is that they were also activists,” she said. “Not because they were actors, but because there was so much to ask for, more protections for human rights and women’s rights, gender equity.
“I was marching with them at seven or eight [years old] because that’s what we did on Saturdays. If there’s something that seems broken, you respond to it.”
Dern’s latest project, the Bradley Cooper-directed Is This Thing On?, is in UK cinemas later this month.
