All About Rashida Jones' Famous Parents, Quincy Jones and Peggy Lipton

Quincy Jones and Peggy Lipton inspired their daughter Rashida Jones in different ways

Raised by her Mod Squad star mother, Peggy Lipton, and her legendary music producer father, Quincy Jones, Rashida Jones had a Hollywood upbringing.

She and her older sister, Kidada Jones, grew up in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles and inherited their parents' artistic genes, eventually pursuing their own creative careers in acting, filmmaking and designing.

Speaking to Oprah.com in 2009, Rashida called Peggy “the most unconditionally loving person I will ever know” and emphasized that her mother was always there to support her.

Sadly, Peggy died of colon cancer at the age of 72 on May 11, 2019, and since then, Rashida has continued to honor her in interviews and on social media.

The Sunny star also maintains a close relationship with her father, and in March 2023, she celebrated the musician’s 90th birthday with an Instagram video montage featuring photos of him.

“No one has lived more life, survived more challenges, contributed more culturally, loved with every piece of his heart than ‘le Q,’ ” Rashida wrote in her caption, referencing Quincy’s nickname. “I feel so blessed to have you as my father, my friend and my mentor. How did I get so lucky??”

Here’s everything to know about Rashida Jones’ parents, Quincy Jones and Peggy Lipton.

Rashida's parents met on a boat in the Bahamas

According to The Guardian’s May 2019 obituary for Peggy, The Mod Squad actress and the producer met on a friend’s boat in the Bahamas in 1969.

They began dating two years later and Quincy moved in within two weeks, according to a 2001 episode of American Masters. In a sit-down interview with the show, Peggy explained that she was on her final year of working on The Mod Squad and she was ready for the next chapter of her life when she bumped into Quincy again.

"I’d led a very lonely life up until ... Quincy," she said. "There was Quincy — that protectiveness, that affection, that knowing no matter what I did or no matter what I did or how my behavior manifested itself, there will always be that loving person there to say it’s okay to call me and say it’s good. I love you the way you are."

Peggy also revealed that they clicked because of a shared value. "He’s always been looking for family," she added. "He was really looking for what I felt I could offer him."

Peggy and Quincy married on Sept. 14, 1974 — six months after the arrival of their first child together.

Peggy and Quincy shared two children

Peggy and Quincy welcomed Kidada on March 22, 1974, and Rashida on Feb. 25, 1976.

They raised their daughters in Bel Air, Calif. and encouraged their creative pursuits. Kidada attended the Los Angeles Fashion Institute for Design and Merchandising and went on to work for Quincy’s magazine, Vibe. She notably styled Michael Jackson for the singer’s 1995 Vibe cover shoot.

Rashida famously followed in her mother’s footsteps and became a successful actress; she’s best known for her TV roles, including in The Office and Parks and Recreation, and has also appeared in movies, like The Social Network and Our Idiot Brother.

Related: Quincy Jones' 7 Children: All About His Sons and Daughters

In total, Quincy has seven children from five different relationships: Kidada, Rashida, Jolie Jones Levine, Rachel Jones, Martina Jones, Quincy Jones III and Kenya Kinski-Jones.

Quincy reflected on parenting in a 2018 Father’s Day Facebook post, featuring a family photo. “Never underestimate your role in your kid’s lives,” he wrote. “I learned that a bit later in my life, but I'm so glad I finally figured it out because being a father is hands down one of the greatest blessings!”

Rashida's parents split when she was a child

About 15 years after the actress and producer married in 1974, Peggy and Quincy divorced in 1990 following three years of separation. She cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for the breakup in court papers filed in Los Angeles, per the Los Angeles Times.

When they initially separated, Rashida was 10 and Kidad was 12. At the time, Rashida stayed with Peggy and Kidada stayed with Quincy, according to Rashida's Oprah.com interview. The former couple stayed amicable in the following years.

When Rashida made a documentary about her father titled Quincy, Peggy played an instrumental role in the process. While chatting about the project with Entertainment Weekly in 2018, The Office alum revealed that her parents remained friends after their divorce.

“My parents are so close, and that really makes it easier, because it all comes from a place of love,” she shared. “My mom is so empathetic towards my dad, but it also was incredibly raw for her to go through what she went through and admit that the relationship didn't work out.”

Rashida and Peggy acted together

Throughout the late '60s, Peggy appeared in minor roles on several TV series, including Bewitched and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, until she was cast as Julie Barnes on the ABC police drama The Mod Squad.

The successful show ran for five seasons, during which time she earned four Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe win for her work. When it concluded in 1973, the actress stepped into motherhood with Kidada's birth and marriage to Quincy.

As Kidada and Rashida grew up, Peggy returned to her acting roots in the late '80s and was put back in the spotlight with her portrayal of Norma Jennings on David Lynch's Twin Peaks. Over the years, she reprised her character in the show's spinoffs.

While Peggy continued appearing in different titles, she also helped Rashida prep for jobs and offered advice.

“Until last year she worked with me before every audition,” Rashida told Oprah.com in 2009. “She’s given me perspective, and she has let me cry when things haven't gone my way — which, when you’re an actress, can happen a lot.”

In addition to collaborating on a 2002 play called Pitching to the Star, Peggy acted alongside her daughter in the TBS sitcom Angie Tribeca, in which she played Rashida's character's mom.

Peggy died in 2019

At 72 years old, Peggy died of colon cancer on May 11, 2019 — just a few months after Rashida welcomed her son, Isaiah, with Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig.

In a 2021 interview with NPR, the actress opened up about becoming a new mother and losing hers at the same time. “This has been a very emotionally intense couple of years,” she shared. “I was in grief-shock. I don't even know if that's a word, but I was just not in my body at all and just had a baby. I was doubly not in my body.”

She recalled on “the utter rawness” of those emotions and continued: “It's very binary, both things — becoming a mother and losing my mother — like, there’s my life before and there's my life after. And strangely, there’s something that's not recognizable before those two things happened.”

Related: Who Is Rashida Jones' Boyfriend? All About Ezra Koenig

When Peggy died, Quincy shared a heartfelt tribute on X (formerly Twitter) to honor her. He posted a throwback photo of himself kissing Peggy on the cheek and wrote, “There is absolutely no combination of words that can express the sadness I feel after losing my beloved Peggy Lipton. My wife of 14 years.” He reflected on their “many beautiful memories” together.

In 2020, Rashida shared her own social media tribute in honor of what would have been Peggy’s 74th birthday. She posted a black-and-white portrait of her mother on Instagram and captioned the photo, “Happy birthday mama. I feel you smiling down on us. Miss you everyday in every way.”

Rashida made a documentary about her father

Rashida and filmmaker Alan Hicks co-wrote and co-directed Quincy, a 2018 Netflix documentary about her father’s life and career. “We wanted to make the definitive movie about his life,” she told Entertainment Weekly in September 2018.

Rashida explained that despite Quincy being a widely celebrated figure in music and pop culture, no one truly knows him as well as she does.

“I think there are so many things that are missing from the documentation of his life because he’s so accomplished,” she said. “There's never even time to get to who he is as a person, which is very much connected to why he’s so successful as an artist. For Al and I, it was important that we got to his heart, and how that’s connected with his work.”

At the 2019 Grammy Awards, the film won best music film, and Rashida gave a touching speech about Quincy. She praised his “enormous heart and unwavering faith in humanity” and shared his reaction to the documentary.

“When my dad watched the film, he said, ‘I wish I could live forever,’ ” Rashida told the crowd.

Rashida and her parents have always had a special bond

Since she was a child, Rashida has shared similar traits with her parents, which made it easy to bond with them.

During a January 2016 interview with theoffcamerashow, she explained, “My dad and my mom both have, like, a secret academic pursuit. They read a ton, they’re super curious, they both, I think, wish they went to college.”

Rashida joked that she is “the genetic expression of all of their secret academic dreams.” The actress explained that she enjoyed puzzles, reading and “sensible clothes” when she was young.

“Personality-wise, I have tons of things that are like both of my parents — the way I deal with the world and we have similar politics,” she reflected.

A few months later, in honor of Mother's Day, Peggy wrote a letter to her daughters, in which she praised Kidada as a "wonderful" artist and "deep listener" and celebrated Rashida's love of connection to everyone around her.

“You are an actress, writer, humanitarian, musician and so much more,” she said. “Your friendships steeped in generosity are deeply lasting which says so much about your heart and commitment. You are a scholar much like my father Harold.”

After she died, Quincy shared a throwback photo of himself and Rashida in a February 2020 Instagram post. He wrote in his caption that Rashida still holds her “mother’s beautiful smile & light” and assured his daughter that his and Peggy’s love “isn’t restricted by the boundaries of any physical form.”

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