Lily Allen has said that although nepo-babies – celebrity offspring who have careers in the public eye – benefit from a privileged upbringing, they are also starved of love.
The 37-year-old confessed that children of famous parents deserve sympathy as they are starved of "basic things in childhood" as their parents are narcissistic.
In a series of tweets, she said: “In childhood we crave stability and love, nurturing. We don’t care about money or proximity to power yet.
Lily Allen says nepo-babies deserve sympathy
Matthew Murphy
“Many of the nepo babies are starved of these basic things in childhood as their parents are probably narcissistic.
“[The] entertainment business is not parent-friendly, eg touring/months away shooting. It can be hard to see one’s own privilege when you’re still processing childhood trauma, and a lot of these kids haven’t figured that out yet.”
Allen is the daughter of actor, Keith Allen and film producer, Amanda Owen.
She added: “I do feel that nepo babies are being somewhat scapegoated here. There is a wider, societal conversation to be had about wealth inequality… I promise you I’m not rooting for an industry full of people that had childhoods that looked like mine.
“I just really think that we can’t get to a real solution without identifying the real problem, as fun as it is to laugh at the kids of famous people. Nepo babies have feelings.”
The self-confessed "nepo baby" did not criticise her parents and instead said they were “super talented”.
Nepo baby Lily Allen did not criticise her parents Keith Allen and Amanda Owen
MARIO ANZUONI
The singer and actress said: “Look, I seem to have riled people up with my comments about nepo babies. I am nearly 40 years of age and am more than happy, in fact I think it’s important to disclose what a privileged upbringing I’ve had and how that has created so many opportunities for me.
“I mention my age because I haven’t always been able to have that conversation, in my twenties I felt very defensive about it, I felt like I worked extremely hard and that I deserved the success that I had, that people connected to my songs and that the songs came from me.
"I also had quite a fraught relationship with some of my family members so it felt difficult for me to attribute my successes to them, at the time.
“But we all know it’s more complicated than that. It is quite clear that there is a severe lack of representation in the industry where class and race are concerned. Everyone loses as a result.”
Lily Allen returned to the West End to star in a revival of Olivier Award-winning play The Pillowman earlier this year.
The 37-year-old singer-songwriter first made her debut in 2:22 – A Ghost Story alongside Encanto’s Stephanie Beatriz and Inbetweeners actor James Buckley at the Noel Coward Theatre.
