Tom Hanks, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Hailey Bieber Have Entered the Nepo Baby Group Chat
"This is a family business," Hanks argues in defense of his four kids, all of whom pursued careers in Hollywood.
While some A-list nepo babies like Kate Hudson, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Hailey Bieber are fully (and satirically) embracing their nepotistic place in Hollywood, other celebrities like Tom Hanks are not.
The skincare gurus are the latest stars to indirectly address Nepo-Gate, which rose to fruition during the final days of 2022 after New York Magazine dubbed it “The Year of the Nepo Baby.”
Bieber, who is the daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin and the niece of entertainment mogul Alec Baldwin, turned eyes when she was photographed proudly donning a cropped tee with “Nepo Baby” written across the chest.
InStyle magazine captured the look on Instagram to which Paltrow commented, “I might need a few of these.”
The Iron Man actress earned her nepo baby status thanks to her parents’, Blythe Danner and Bruce Paltrow, extremely successful careers in TV and film.
Like many of their colleagues, Bieber and Paltrow have taken their new nicknames with a grain of salt. Hanks, on the other hand, is not as amused by the whole nepo baby discourse.
Though the Forrest Gump star isn’t a member of the nepo baby club himself, his four adult children, whom he shares with wife and actress Rita Wilson, are.
“Look. This is a family business,” Hanks told The Sun while promoting his new film A Man Called Otto. “This is what we’ve been doing forever. It’s what all of our kids grew up in. We have four kids, they are all very creative, they are all involved in some brand of storytelling.”
Hanks argues that “if we were a plumbing supply business or if we ran the florists shop down the street” the whole family would still be involved to some degree. He added that coming up with “a true and authentic experience for the audience” is “a much bigger task” than living up to the Hanks-Wilson family name.
“The thing that doesn’t change no matter what happens, no matter what your last name is, is whether it works or not,” Hanks continued. “That’s the issue anytime any of us go off and try to tell a fresh story or create something that has a beginning and a middle and an end. Doesn’t matter what our last names are.”
Fans can catch Hanks as the lead character in A Man Called Otto, which also features a song by Wilson, playing in theaters now. Additionally, the film stars their son, Truman Hanks — nepotism, a family affair, or both?
