Rashida Jones Weighs in on Nepo Baby Debate, Calls Fame “Pretty Poisonous”
Rashida Jones learned a lot from her famous parents. The actress reflected this week on growing up with Hollywood-connected parents, saying, “more people go into the family business than they don’t.”
“I had parents who were in the public eye, but they were extremely protective of us,” Jones, the daughter of music producer Quincy Jones and actress-model Peggy Lipton, told InStyle. She added that fame “wasn’t that much part of my reality” and called being famous “pretty poisonous for the most part.”
More from The Hollywood Reporter
'Sunny' Review: Rashida Jones in Apple TV+'s Sleek, Sporadically Involving Sci-Fi Drama
Maya Hawke Admits Nepotism Played a Role in Her 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' Casting
Lily Allen Says "Nepo Baby" Is a Term "Almost Exclusively Used for Women"
“People like the story of a legacy family and it’s fun to write about and it’s fun to think about, you know, the ‘mini me’ and the person who looks like their mom or their dad,” the Parks and Rec star added as she reflected on Hollywood’s fascination with the nepo baby. “And then there’s the resentment there, too. But I think about it as, historically, people go into the family business more than they don’t.”
Jones graduated from Harvard with a degree in comparative study of religion in 1997, and it wasn’t until her 30s that she landed her breakout role on The Office.
“My dad said to me, when I graduated from college: ‘You’re gonna go wait in line with 70,000 other people for a job? That doesn’t seem really that practical,’” she recalled. “And he was right, you know.”
The delayed career was a blessing and a curse to Jones. “I wasn’t really in a place where people recognize me until I was in my 30s, which is a good thing, but it was also like a bit of a surprise,” Jones explains. “By that point, you’re like, ‘This is how I’m living my life.’ And then, all of a sudden, you’re walking in New York and you’re used to just walking on the streets, and then somebody’s watching you.”
Best of The Hollywood Reporter