Hailey Bieber on why she wore a “nepo baby” shirt: ‘I am one’

Hailey Bieber is completely snug with the “nepo baby” discourse.

The mannequin and entrepreneur, 26, sounded off about setting the web ablaze again in January when she was photographed sporting a cropped white tee with the phrases “nepo baby” written throughout the entrance in black lettering.

In an interview with Bloomberg’s The Circuit, Bieber defined why she determined to lean into the phrase.

“My point to having worn the T-shirt was not to poke fun at it or be like, ‘Yeah I’m a nepo baby haha,’ type of a thing,” mentioned Bieber, who’s the daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin. “It was more so to be like, ‘This is what everyone is saying and I want you to know that this is my way of responding to it.’ ”

Bieber went on to elucidate that she thought it could be humorous to put on the shirt and embrace the criticism about the advantages of her well-known lineage.

“I’m just going to call myself a nepo baby, because I am one, and I embrace that I am,” she added. “My point to having worn the T-shirt was not to poke fun at it or be like, ‘Yeah I’m a nepo baby haha,’ type of a thing. It was more so to be like, ‘This is what everyone is saying and I want you to know that this is my way of responding to it.’ ”

Bieber went on to say that it is simply one other instance of how she can by no means please everybody on the web, as a result of “nothing’s ever enough.”

“You’re going to sit there and call me a nepo baby all day long, but then I acknowledge it and then I’m not enough of a nepo baby? There is never any winning with the internet, and that’s what I’ve always time and time again realized,” she continued.

What is a nepo baby?

The term “nepotism child,” or “nepo child,” originated on social media as a way to point out individuals who have benefited from the privilege of having powerful family connections, such as rising stars like Maude Apatow and Lily Rose Depp. However, the term can also be applied to some staples of entertainment, like Jamie Lee Curtis.

Story continues

In 2022, New York Magazine declared it “The Year of the Nepo Baby,” stating “We love them, hate them, disrespect them, and obsess over them.”

What have celebrities said about “nepo infants?”

While some stars, like Bieber, have chosen to lean into the term, others have declared that they find it reductive. Curtis, who has had a long career in Hollywood, made it clear she’s no fan of the phrase. The daughter of Psycho star Janet Leigh and Some Like It Hot legend Tony Curtis took to Instagram to declare her distaste for the term, claiming, “the present dialog about nepo infants is simply designed to attempt to diminish and denigrate and damage.”

“I’ve been a skilled actress since I used to be 19 years previous in order that makes me an OG Nepo Baby,” Curtis wrote. “I’ve by no means understood, nor will I, what qualities received me employed that day, however since my first two strains on Quincy as a contract participant at Universal Studios to this final spectacular inventive 12 months some 44 years later, there’s not a day in my skilled life that goes by with out my being reminded that I am the daughter of film stars.”

Still, she recognized how being the child of celebrities helped pave the way to her success, while also staking her claim as a talented individual.

“For the document I’ve navigated 44 years with the benefits my related and mirrored fame introduced me, I do not faux there are not any, that attempt to inform me that I’ve no worth on my very own. It’s curious how we instantly make assumptions and snide remarks that somebody associated to another person who is legendary of their area for his or her artwork, would one way or the other haven’t any expertise in any way.”

Curtis is not the one massive identify to talk out concerning the now-viral time period. Singer Lily Allen took to Twitter to criticize it, claiming the evaluation is misdirected since “the nepo infants y’all ought to be worrying about are those working for authorized corporations, those working for banks, and those working in politics, If we’re speaking about actual world penalties and robbing folks of alternative. BUT that’s none of my enterprise.”

Euphoria star Apatow, whose parents are actress Leslie Mann and producer and director Judd Apatow, told Net-A-Porter of the discourse, “I attempt to not let it get to me as a result of I clearly perceive that I’m in such a fortunate place. Lots of people [in a similar position] have confirmed themselves through the years, so I’ve received to maintain going and make good work. It’s so early in my profession, I don’t have a lot to indicate but, however hopefully sooner or later I’ll be actually happy with the stuff I’ve completed on my own.”

Other stars have said they simply chalk up the cycle of celebrity offspring success as being the nature of a familial industry.

“Look, that is a household enterprise,” Tom Hanks said back in January in an interview with The Sun. “This is what we have been doing eternally. It’s what all of our children grew up in,” he explained, noting that a fancy last name doesn’t guarantee a pathway to stardom. “It does not matter what our final names are. We must do the work so as to make that a true and genuine expertise for the viewers. And that is a a lot larger activity than worrying about whether or not anyone’s going to attempt to scathe us or not.”