I ended up sort of disappointed in Feud: Capote vs. the Swans – there were some amazing parts and everyone was acting their asses off, but they stretched out the story too much. It would have been a tighter, more interesting four-episode series but it felt dragged out. And after all that, Molly Ringwald was barely in it! She played Joanne Carson, Johnny Carson’s ex-wife, and Capote’s “LA Swan.” I wished there was more of Joanne because she really adored Truman. That being said, I love that Molly was included and I’m here for the Molly Ringwald Renaissance. Molly and her 20-year-old daughter Mathilda recently did a joint interview in the Times of London about the 1980s, fashion and nepo babies. Some highlights (just from Molly’s section):
Conceiving Mathilda: “I believe that Mathilda was conceived in the dressing room at Studio 54 right at the end of my run playing Sally Bowles in Cabaret in 2003. It’s so Mathilda to be conceived in such an iconic place. I always knew I wanted to have children but it took me a while — I was 36 when she was born. At that age the biological clock is a real thing and it had kind of become deafening. All I could think about was: must have kids.
On her family: My husband, Panio, an author and book editor, and I were both enchanted from the moment Mathilda was born. She was five weeks early, so she was on the smaller side, but she had these big, beautiful eyes…The hardest thing about motherhood was realising that my time was not my own. As an actress I’ve travelled a lot and learnt to live with instability, but that’s not great for kids. That’s something I am always looking to improve on and luckily I have a husband who is a planner and is very stable. I provide other qualities, like spontaneity, humour and creativity. We also have 14-year-old twins, Roman and Adele. All of our kids are good at communicating. They’re able to come to us when they need to, which I’m really grateful for. We at least did something right.
Her baby moved out two years ago: Mathilda moved out to Bushwick in Brooklyn about a year ago. She really needed to have her own space. As much as I loved my parents, I was definitely ready to move out as soon as I turned 18. Bushwick feels very far from where we are in upstate New York, but thankfully she still comes back home with her laundry.
Molly on Mathilda not wanting to use her name: “She and I are both emotional and headstrong. When she was learning to walk, if we helped her for a couple of steps she would stop and say, “Do myself lone” and go back and do it again. That’s still her attitude today, including in her acting career. She took Gianopoulos, her father’s name, instead of Ringwald. I said, “Are you sure? Ringwald is so much easier to spell and it might open some doors.” But she was adamant.”
The nepo baby discussion: “The nepo baby thing is ridiculous. Of course if you have a parent in the industry, it’s something that you’ve heard about and might be genetically predisposed to. We wouldn’t let Mathilda pursue acting when she was a child, as we wanted her to concentrate on being a kid. She fought us on that — she’s still kind of mad about it, but it was the right decision. I don’t think that professional acting is a great way for kids to grow up. It’s way too stressful and it’s a crap shoot on whether or not the kids can make it through. I did my first professional job at ten years old and it was not easy.
Watching ‘The Breakfast Club’: I don’t enjoy watching myself on screen. I only rewatched The Breakfast Club, which came out in 1985, because Mathilda wanted to see it with me. There is a lot that I really love about the movie but there are elements that haven’t aged well — like Judd Nelson’s character, John Bender, who essentially sexually harasses my character. I’m glad we’re able to look at that and say things are truly different now. They were all really fun movies to make. Sixteen Candles, the first movie I made with the director John Hughes, in 1984, was filmed during the summer. He would just let the camera roll and we would improvise. It was a very free, creative experience.
The nepo baby discussion from a parent’s perspective is funny! Molly is like “please use nepotism to get jobs, take my name, tell people you’re my daughter.” Molly’s basically like, of course I would do anything to help my kids break into the industry. Which is all fair – I understand why parents want to help, especially with such a fickle industry. But acknowledge it, acknowledge that your beloved child is a nepo baby who is being helped by your connections! Acknowledge that you’re helping your kid by doing mother-daughter interviews in a prominent British newspaper!
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- 2023 CFDA Fashion Awards – Outside Arrivals at American Museum of Natural History. Featuring: Zac Posen and Molly Ringwald When: 06 Nov 2023 Credit: Darla Khazei/INSTARimages
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- New York premiere of FX’s ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans’ season 2 at Museum of Modern Art Featuring: Molly Ringwald Where: New York, New York, United States When: 23 Jan 2024 Credit: Janet Mayer/INSTARimages.com
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- Molly Ringwald visits ‘Good Morning America’ to talk about the second season of FX’s series ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans’ in New York City Featuring: Molly Ringwald Where: New York, United States When: 26 Jan 2024 Credit: Roger Wong/INSTARimages
Yeah when she says that the nepo baby thing is “ridiculous” does she mean that it’s ridiculous that very mid celeb kids can get lucrative jobs because of their parents’ connections and name? Or does she mean it’s “ridiculous” like that’s not a thing that can happen?
Because she literally says that she told her daughter that taking her last name could open doors so….I’m confused.
I’m going with I think she meant it’s “ridiculous” like it’s not a thing. Meaning…she like so many others refuses to acknowledge the privilege of nepotism. I shake my head at the arrogance of denying at the bare minimum that nepotism gets a foot in the door.
I thought she meant the actual discussion of it is ridiculous because …. it’s a definite thing that exists and will exists whether we like it or not.
The way she worded it doesn’t sound good. But then the explanation after it about why it exists makes sense. So I see it as one bad statement paired with an explanation that makes sense
I hope you are correct and will be open minded to your optimism.
I am 100% sure that she meant it was ridiculous because it’s so embedded into how every industry functions. Parents influence kids and kids look up to parents. And then kids are sometimes good at the things their parents were good at. It’s ridiculous to clutch pearls at nepotism.
I think that’s all any of us want, which is for people who benefit from privilege to see it clearly and acknowledge it. I can’t begrudge a reasonable amount of help from a well-meaning parent (reasonable!) or a kid’s greater familiarity, understanding, access, or interest in a business they grew up in and around (without having a vote in the matter).
But when obvious “nepo babies” (though I hate the term, tbh) get their back up and claim they achieved it on their own without help (or worse yet, believe it) because they “worked hard” and “were willing to put in the tjme/effort” there’s an unpleasant implication that the others who don’t have what they do weren’t working hard or willing to put in the time/effort, when those folks *couldn’t*, because they were struggling to pay rent, get auditions, get meetings, etc for YEARS without any assistance.
Acknowledge, be grateful, and do what you can to give others the benefits you had, when possible. But, of course, not acknowledging it means you have no responsibility to help others…they just need to work harder. (Ugh.)
Right because casting agents, directors and producers will have NO IDEA who her mother is in the industry. A mother that can bring attention at movie premiers for smaller movies.
This the BS parents tell their kids, so they believe they bootstrapped themselves to fame and money. It’s all done behind the scenes when parents network for their kids to get jobs.
But keep believing in the dream Mathilda.
The whole nepo baby thing is asinine. Most people I know got their jobs because of who their parents or family is. In my little town it’s almost impossible for kids my kids age (early 20’s) to get jobs unless we help them and use our connections. There is nothing wrong with that; life isn’t fair sometimes and sometimes it’s all who you know.
“Most people I know got their jobs because of who their parents or family is.”
I don’t know what kind of circles you run in but I can assure you that for the rest of the world, this is not the case. Most of us have to go to college and get a degree then apply to 20 jobs that we don’t even want only to get rejected by 19 of them and finally settle on the only one that gave an offer. That’s how pretty much everyone I know got their foot in the door so they could eventually carve out a career that they don’t completely hate. So yeah, your reality is not most people’s reality.
Absolutely, leveraging connections is a reality for many, and it indeed plays a crucial role in landing a job. However, it’s vital to recognize the privilege that comes with these connections. Acknowledging this privilege doesn’t undermine individual effort; rather, it underscores the uneven playing field in terms of access to opportunities. It serves as a reminder that while hard work is universal, luck—in the form of connections and circumstances—often plays a more significant role in determining success. This awareness is key to addressing societal inequities. It also challenges the bootstrap mentality, or “self-made myth,” that supports many of the unfavourable policies in Western countries, especially in the US.