Emma Roberts On "Nepo-Baby" Criticism Being Female-Focused: "Why Is No One Calling Out George Clooney?"

Emma Roberts is finally breaking her silence on nepotism.

Roberts, the daughter of Julia Roberts' brother, Eric, has often been criticized for her connections. Now she's hitting back at all the haters.

In a recent episode of the Table for Two podcast, Roberts was asked if her priority was to become a "massive movie star" and to follow in the footsteps of her famed family members. To everyone's surprise, she said that kind of fame was never her goal. “I saw very up close what that really looks like,” she said. “It’s obviously fun and it’s great, but there is a part of it that’s really scary. So I’ve wanted to kind of carve my own path. … Fame has never been the goal, because fame at a certain level is kind of scary.”

The American Horror Story star continued, “Even in my later teens, I was like, I never want my fame to outweigh my work. Because there’s nothing scarier to me than being so famous that you’re never left alone, but also you’re not getting good jobs. And that was kind of happening to a lot of people when I was in my teens and early 20s. I never wanted that to happen to me.”

Roberts added that "there are two sides of the coin" regarding nepotism, one being that nepo babies have a leg up – while other nepo children may never get a chance if the industry has negative experiences with their family. She proceeds to bring up a good point: Young women have it harder in the industry. “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,’” she said. “I always joke, ‘Why is no one calling out George Clooney for being a nepo baby? [His aunt] Rosemary Clooney was an icon.’ 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.”

And did Roberts lie? I don't see anyone coming for Nicholas Cage or Timothée Chalamet's throat (not that they should!) in the same way people attacked Lily-Rose Depp or Gracie Abrams.

Even the audience agrees. "I mean she has a point — no one calls Chris Pine a nepo baby," wrote @thunderxstorm07 on X.

"Or Nic Cage, Armie Hammer, Kiefer Sutherland, and so on," added @realonx1.

The actress ended her argument by stating that people who criticize nepo babies “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.”

Support our cause and help women reclaim their femininity by subscribing today.