It has taken until 2024 for some people to clock that George Clooney is a classic Hollywood nepo baby, and it’s his millennial nepo colleague Emma Roberts who has shared the reminder.
Emma, 33, is famously the daughter of prolific actor Eric Roberts, 68, who was Oscar-nominated for Runaway Train in the 1980s and has appeared in The Dark Knight, as well as the niece of Hollywood superstar Julia Roberts, 56.
However, the Wild Child actress argued in a new interview that she feels women get a tougher time when they have famous connections in the industry compared to men – jokingly citing the director and Gravity actor as her example.
‘Everybody loves the kind of overnight-success story. And so if you’re kind of not the girl from the middle of nowhere that broke into Hollywood, there’s kind of an eye roll of like, “Well, your dad was this”,’ the actress shared.
‘I always joke, “Why is no one calling out George Clooney for being a nepo baby? [His aunt] Rosemary Clooney was an icon”,’ she pointed out on the Table for Two podcast.
‘I feel like young girls get it harder with the nepo baby thing. Like, I don’t really see people calling out sons of famous actors, not that they should be called out.’
Emma’s reference to George having a famous aunt was clearly news to many as confused fans picked up on the quote and shared their confusion online.
‘George Clooney is a nepo baby?’ asked one fan on X, while @deronworld admitted: ‘I was today years old when I learned that George Clooney was a nepo baby. I also recently learned that Tony Goldwyn is also a nepo baby.’
‘This is how I find out George Clooney is a nepo baby,’ admitted @gabrielach899 as she absorbed Emma’s comments.
‘My favourite part of this post is people insisting that George Clooney isn’t a nepo baby because he’s from Kentucky…’ @munson_jo posted as others agreed with the actress’s argument.
‘To be honest this is a reaaaalllly good point. If you want to hear people talk about George Clooney being a nepo baby you’re gonna have to talk to generation X,’ tweeted @_edbrella.
‘It makes me [mad] that Zoomers are always giving George Clooney the nepo baby pass,’ added @flibbradigibbet.
Rosemary Clooney was indeed an icon, as a hugely popular singer and actress during the 1950s.
She recorded songs like Come On-a My House, Sway and Mambo Italiano, which was a UK number one in 1955.
Clooney also appeared in musicals like The Stars Are Singing and Red Garters, although it is her appearance in 1954’s White Christmas with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Vera-Ellen that saw her go down in Hollywood history.
After her career stalled in the 1960s and early ‘70s due to health and addiction problems, it was revived when Crosby invited her to appear at a show in 1977 to celebrate his 50th year in showbiz.
She carried on recording an album every year for the Concord Jazz Label until her death aged 74 in 2002.
Before George had established himself as an actor, he actually worked as a chauffeur for his aunt and her singing friends, including the late Tony Bennett, driving them to and from gigs.
Once George found fame on ER in the 1990s, Clooney also guest-starred on the medica procedural, for which she received an Emmy nomination.
Her now 90-year-old brother Nick Clooney, George’s father, was also a TV host and anchorman – he moved from broadcasting in Lexington, Kentucky to his own morning show in Ohio in the late 1960s and ‘70s.
His first national broadcast came as the host of daytime gameshow The Money Maze in 1974, before later hosting for channel AMC.
Of course, George has gone on to become one of the most famous and successful stars in the film industry now, winning two Oscars out of eight nominations, and working as a producer and director alongside his acting.
Emma also said in her interview that there are ‘two sides of the coin’ when it comes to being a nepo baby as, despite having ‘a leg up’ in the industry, she felt she still had to ‘prove’ herself more and that her chances were affected ‘if people don’t have good experiences with other people in your family’.
The actress, who will next appear in Prime Video comedy Space Cadet, also concluded her argument by saying that people who criticize nepo babys ‘only see your wins, because they only see when you’re on the poster of a movie — they don’t see all the rejection along the way’. ‘That’s why I’m always very open about things I’ve auditioned for and haven’t gotten the part for.’
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