Last week, New York Magazine caused a bit of a pre-holiday stir among nepo babies with their issue examining the… community? Lifestyle? Phenomenon? I’m not sure what to call it! Nepo babies have been around since the dawn of Hollywood, but lately they’ve been talked about a lot and the NY Mag issue sparked a lot more discussion. Many nepo babies got defensive, or what I like to call “mad ’cause it’s true,” but one actually wanted to be part of the conversation and classified as such! Eve Hewson, Bono’s daughter and an actress, went on Twitter and was pretty much like “where’s my nepo baby shine” in a series of tweets.
Eve Hewson has consistently found solid, reputable work as an actor, like in the 2021 Netflix miniseries Behind Her Eyes and this year’s Apple TV+ series Bad Sisters. Being the daughter of U2 singer Bono, she’s also been caught up in the recent “nepo baby” conversation, a “nepo baby” (“nepo” is short for “nepotism”) being somebody with famous relatives and who has had significant success.
Hewson has been having some fun with the discourse, though. On December 20, she tweeted, “Actually pretty devastated i’m not featured in the nepo baby article like haven’t they seen my hit show Bad Sisters??? The NERVE.” She added, “2023 Goals: be successful enough to get recognised as a nepo baby.”
The article in question is a recent New York Magazine piece that brought this whole nepotism conversation to the forefront. When it was pointed out that Hewson is actually mentioned in the article, she tweeted, “I HAVE JUST BEEN MADE AWARE I HIT MY 2023 GOALS AND IT’S STILL 2022.” Later, she added, “Omg please can all the Nepo babies unite and dress up as giant babies for Halloween.”
Then, just yesterday, Hewson learned some critical information, tweeting, “In a beautiful turn of events, I have just been informed that Pamela Wasserstein, the CEO of @NYMag, is a nepo baby herself. Her dad bought the magazine in 2004.”
I read Eve’s tweets as tongue-in-cheek, especially when she wrote about her “2023 goal” and then was like “oops, I meant to put that in my Notes app.” But it’s a good way to bring herself into the conversation and get a little free PR! Did she actually not notice she was mentioned in the article or did she want more attention? There are so many really buzzy nepo babies or older celebs who we forgot originated as nepo babies that people like Eve kind of get lost in the shuffle. Like, I did kind of forget about Eve. I watched Behind Her Eyes and thought she was pretty and reminded me of my friend but with a tragic haircut, and so I looked her up and learned she was Bono’s daughter, but definitely forgot. Nepo babies whose famous parents use a stage name or have a different last name may be at a disadvantage. Bam, I found the new struggle talking point for those who fall into that subcategory of nepo baby!
Actually pretty devastated i’m not featured in the nepo baby article like haven’t they seen my hit show Bad Sisters??? The NERVE.
— Eve Hewson (@EveHewson) December 20, 2022
I HAVE JUST BEEN MADE AWARE I HIT MY 2023 GOALS AND IT’S STILL 2022 https://t.co/z4yxub61CT
— Eve Hewson (@EveHewson) December 20, 2022
photos credit: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon, Getty and via Instagram
Nepotism babies that have different names to their famous parents can still ask them to call in favours. But I think their advantage is not being linked to said parent. Had no idea she was Bonos daughter.
I think Margaret Qually falls into that category. I’m sure casting directors were aware that she had a famous mother but audiences aren’t. It helps that she is also a very skilled trained dancer. I don’t think she was even mentioned in the article.
Margaret Qually is just about her mom’s mini-me.
Margaret Qualley can actually act, IMHO, unlike her mother.
@Normades, I thought they left her out until I clicked on a separate section showcasing the definitive guide to nepo babies via graphs and charts.
Qualley was there, but almost as a footnote. I enjoy her acting and wish they could remake Black Swan with her and Alicia Vikander (actual former ballerinas who can also act their hearts out). Some nepo babies do belong on our screens.
Had no idea Bono had a last name. I thought Hewson was her mom’s last name. But nope, Bono was born Paul Hewson.
Same. I assumed Bono sprang from the womb as Bono.
If she had taken her father’s last stage name she’d be just Eve 😂
Bono’s full stage name is Bono Vox (though he hasn’t used “Vox” for years now). So, she’d be Eve Vox. Which kinda has a cool ring to it.
Nepotism only works if both are in the same industry. Does she have a band?
No, but her brother (Elijah Hewson) is in a band called Inhaler.
I’ve never heard her or her shows, but those tweets are pretty funny so I guess this is an effective PR strategy
I’ve seen her in a few things and think she’s great.
Same! I knew her work before I learned she was Bono’s kid. So yeah she had massive nepo connections but she’s also has great comedic timing and the potential for a long career built on talent.
Reminds me a bit of Carrie Fischer, smart-funny. I’ve never seen her in anything but she is a beauty.
She was my favorite in Bad Sisters, which is smart and hilarious and tragic. I didn’t know she was Bono’s daughter. She is in on the joke, clearly.
*sigh*
When will nepo kids realize it’s not just accessibility, but also a humongous fallback position?!
They have access to food, shelter, & cash to carry them through. Ffs.
Leni Klum, so far for me, has had the best response to being a nepo kid.
(Bono’s kid Eli is in a band, they aren’t bad)
That kind of a safety net exists for kids with financially comfortable families in general – not just entertainment industry nepo kids. Parents who are have the means can and often will help their adult kids.
One of my former neighbors is a retired bond trader – he and his wife are living in another state, but one of their kids is living in their apartment in our building. The kid (in his mid20s) is paying the bills for the apartment, but it’s a lot more space and a much lower cost than if he was on his own. The parents would make a fortune if they sold the apartment – they’ve owned it for 30 years and it’s in a great neighborhood, but they are keeping it so their son can live there.
Go immediately to AppleTV and watch Bad Sisters. It is a blast. So much fun.
Loved that show! Maybe could have cut down an episode or two but it was such a great premise.
The cast is perfect- a mix of terrific British and Irish actresses and the dark humour was superb- I’ve never wished someone’s death so much!
Sharon Horgan is very good at writing ferocious humour- check out Motherland and Catastrophe too.
Gonna say this as well -loved Bad Sisters and I’ve always loved Sharon Horgan Who is the lead actress/writer/show runner of it. All the sisters are great Irish actresses and someone on Twitter said any Irish actress could have done as good a job as Eve so I don’t know but I really thought she was great as the messy, chaotic millennial sister.
The first couple of tweets were cheeky and kind of funny but then she started trolling NYmag and it was less cute. I don’t know if she truly gets it.
Question: In the nymag article there are a couple of blinds, any guesses?
Casting directeur saw a Nepo kid with 2 actor parents, was unimpressed, but said kid went on to land a career defining role.
My guess: Dakota Johnson
Another casting director talks about a Nepo baby with a very common last name and casting director was unaware of her parentage. Nepo baby got the role.
And I also thought….Dakota Johnson?
Both good guesses, but that second quote is a joke. there is absolutely zero chance any casting director in the U.S. doesn’t know the lineage of a nepo baby. These people live for connections.
Just more b.s. to sell us the idea that somehow real talent is all that matters. As we can see with Dakota, that is not true.
Eve is a good actress, she’s good in Bad Sisters, but wow I like her less after this. I wonder if these people ever look around and do the math.
I think you’re spot on on the second one. I read the first as Mya Hawke.
Is there more detail in the original quote because both these guesses assume the first one is female.
I don’t get the hatred for nepo babies. Most don’t use their parents’ connections or nobody knows who their parents are because of a different last name or stage name. Do agents, directors, etc really know who Bono’s children are? There are some who definitely take advantage of their parent’s’ name but I think the biggest advantage is knowing the system.
I’m sure she would get through an entire audition process without her dad being mentioned (or insert any other nepo connection) but they would 100% know, her agents would be the ones dropping it in communication as a point of interest, and it would also be mountains easier for her to even get an agent, particularly a good one, at the start of her career.
Of course they know. And how do you think they get agents? People without connections pay money to try to get seen by agents. Those same people also don’t have rich parents supporting them, introducing them to directors at parties, etc.
The anger comes from their privilege when they refuse to acknowledge it and seem to buy their own PR.
First of all questioning privilege shouldn’t be refused to “ why do you hate them”. We should be able to have frank discussions about privilege and class if we want to create a more just society.
The nepo babies reactions to this discussion reminds me of how certain white people reacted to black life matters.
Also I have bridge to sell you if you think being the child of someone rich/powerful/famous isn’t having a leg up in the entertainment industry. Even hewson herself tweeted that her career benefitted because of who her dad is.
For me, it’s the same reason why I hate superhero franchises. There’s just not enough diversity if casting agents, producers, etc, choose “brand names” instead of unique talent.
‘Don’t use their connections’? Do you really think someone whose parents worked at Kmart and a tire store would know the first thing how to break into acting? How to get an agent, audition, etc.? And that’s just the initial leg up, understanding the process. And how about if that person with the Kmart mom & tire store dad was working as wait-staff at some diner in the evenings and going to school during the days–how & when would that person even get to audition if they even figured out the how of it? This is what having parents in the biz does for you.
Actors from any background will also use absolutely every advantage they can get to land that big role or the big audition that could make or break them. I am not talking about any issues of consent or the very real sexual violence perpetuated upon performers by people in power. But, lying and saying that your grandparents are from Kentucky when you are an ivy league educated Yankee, or that of course you can ride horses, or play the cello, or went to school with such-and-such, passing people your screenplays or demo reels, tricking your way past gate keepers in front offices, changing your name or heritage, so on and so forth.
So of course actors will use any name they know to get in the door. Including their parents. It shouldn’t and isn’t a shameful thing. But don’t lie about it later.
I have yet to see a measured, thoughtful and non-defensive response from any of the nepo babies out there.
They’re so used to everyone wiping their ass, the minute they get called out, they get defensive and childlish.
So far the worse take is Kate Hudson even with the different last name everyone since her childhood has known her as Goldie Hawn’s girl. Thanks to Goldie promoting her private life as well as her professional life for years. No it’s not a worse problem in law or business Kate you need an education and/or experience to get in those fields even with parents in those professions. In acting you can have zero education and experience but get hired. And she says if you work hard and kill it it doesn’t really matter (I guess she believes she kills it?) who you’re parents are. Nope unknown actor b can work hard all the day long and kill it in an audition but they won’t get seen over actor a who has the famous parent.
Yes, this. It’s the way she responded, ‘I don’t care’. Of course she doesn’t care. She got hers and her children will get theirs and that’s all that matters to her. A fairer, more just society is irrelevant to her. Like she said, she doesn’t care. She’s not here to help anybody.
I loved her (and everyone else) in Bad Sisters, and my cursory post-series googling (reviews, actors other roles, etc.) didn’t bring up her as Bono’s daughter! Congrats for flying under the nepo radar, and for her seemingly good humour about it.
Lily Allen’s “defense” made me laugh. Okay, let’s have stricter standards for nepotism in other industries. Why exactly should that exempt her own industry? And it’s a hell of a lot easier to start as a lawyer as a nobody than it is to ever get anywhere in Hollywood as a nobody, honestly.
Having followed her on Instagram for a while and seen interviews of her, it was definitely a joke.
She seems very low-key and family oriented and has made very funny comments about her crazy life growing up.
Her brother has a band, must be more pressure for him than her!
Yes, this. She’s very funny and roasts Bono regularly on instagram with cheeky comments. Pretty sure this is all vin good humour. She really is a talented actress too.
Agree about her brother – his voice is very similar to Bono’s as well, he can’t deny his dad.
I feel like this article is being very kind to her based on her online behaviour. At first it seemed like it was tongue in check but then she started trolling the NY mag and seem to be spiralling into anger. So I don’t get the impression that she was just having a laugh, it seems like she hid behind humour but was actually bothered by the article. To her credit she did tweet that she got opportunities because of her dad. But then choose to retweet Jamie lee Curtis histrionic “ all nepotism lives matter” tweet so doubled down again.
I said the same up thread, she should have quit while she was ahead. I think at the end she even admitted that she was drunk tweeting
Twitter does the same to everyone I suppose -you start trying for humor but people tweeting back at you can turn you sour
Was it really drunk tweeting, or did someone misuse her account? I guess we’ll never know.
LOL at the tweet on having achieved her 2023 goal in 2022. That is the life energy I want for the next 3 days 😂
The article could also focus on unpaid internships at the certain companies, so that only children of privileged parents can afford to get their foot int he door. Same thing.
The nymag article did a good job at dividing Nepo babies in 3 categories: Pure Nepo babies with famous parents (ex: Hawke, Depp, Kravitz), nepos with non famous family members who work in the biz (ex: Chalamet, the Gyllenhals) and nepos who are nepo just because they were born very rich (the Mara sisters, Peltz)
And now we even have nepo mamas! (Hilton, KK, Addison Rae’s mom, the Haddids).
But yes to go back to your point any young person that can do internships, summer camps etc without having to support themselves is always going to be at an extreme advantage. I worked in fashion and you saw a lot of rich kid interns.
At least she shows some sense of humor.
I saw Eve in “The Knick,” a two-season show (maybe Netflix?) that I loved. She was quite good actually. She’s a natural beauty, too, IMO. Her look and aspect suited the role of Lucy, a Southern bred nurse at a large hospital in NYC at the turn of the 20th century.
She got to make out with Clive Owen on that show. Lucky Nepo Baby.
“The Knick” was on Cinemax (I’m a Clive Owen stan) and she was great. Please watch Bad Sisters. It’s such a good show that it’s been renewed for a second season.
To me there’s a difference between “going into the family business” or “following in your parent’s footsteps” and nepotism. Nepotism suggests an element of unfair advantage, often undeserved, for kids who don’t have what it generally takes (such as height, in the case of LR Depp’s modeling career).
Artistic talent is often passed down in genes, though, so it makes sense that children of musicians, actors or artists would naturally inherit talent in those areas. If the kid is good, I’m fine with it. If they suck, that’s another story!
P.S. Bono’s daughter is gorgeous. Wow.
That’s how I feel too. It’s very common for people to follow in their parent’s career footsteps, and especially growing up on film or tv sets, it’s understandable many would want to do that. They all get an advantage though, through name recognition, contacts, wealth, etc,, and should acknowledge that. I don’t know why so few of them can say “yes, it gave me a foot in the door, and I’ve worked hard and honed my skills to stay here”.
I read the headline and thought “Why? Who is she?”
No surprise to read she is the daughter of Bono. Bono is a talented musician and I enjoy U2 but, that man has an ego the size of planet Earth itself.
Of course she thinks she is special “Do you know who my Daddy is?”
Dicksterical. Love it rotfl 😂
Never seen/heard of her, she’s pretty..
Could be because she has her mother and not her father’s entire face.
She is her mother’s clone.
She is the spitting image of Ali Hewson
I don’t agree at all, look at pictures of young Bono, she has his face.
Thanks for this.
She has a wonderful sense of humour.
Nice.
I do not get the hate for nepo-babies at all. And she (and Lily Allen) are right, there’s much worse nepotism going on in regular companies, I’ve definitely met some people in my industry who had no business being there but were allowed to make all kinds of messes due to an uncle in management or whatever.
And what are these guys supposed to do? Not act just because their parent was the third base player of some obscure band? Bono’s child was obviously always going to be set for life with money, but choses to actually work and have a career and make her own money as well. And wow people just f*cking hate the rich don’t they. I think a lot of these nepo-babies are really talented, Margret Qualley among others come to mind, I don’t think they deserved that shitty jealous article, but I guess it’s popular to be mean these days