Is the tide changing and are nepo babies now simply an entertaining balm in difficult times?
ADVERTISEMENTFor those who are still on the fence about nepo babies – children of famous or successful parents – this story may (or may not) tip you over the edge…
The eldest daughter of Oscar-winning filmmaker Sofia Coppola (Virgin Suicides, Lost In Translation) and Phoenix lead singer Thomas Mars, 16-year-old Romy, just revealed in a totally relatable and not at all cringy TikTok that she was grounded for trying to charter a helicopter using her dad Thomas Mars’ credit card.
“Make a vodka-sauce pasta with me because I’m grounded because I tried to charter a helicopter from New York to Maryland on my dad’s credit card because I wanted to have dinner with a camp friend,” Romy said in her since-deleted cooking video.
The teen also disclosed that she did not “know the difference between a garlic and an onion,” so she “had to Google images of onions on (her) phone.”
She ended up using shallots – admittedly delicious, but still not onions.
Romy added that her parents “don’t want (her) to be a nepotism kid” before insisting that “TikTok is not gonna make (her) famous, so it doesn’t really matter.”
Well, that's a fail on the nepo front, but she's spot-on with the TikTok famous part, as the video went viral.
However, despite the usual amount of flack “ nepotism babies ” get online - mostly due to complaints related to a lack of diversity in the arts - Romy’s video was not met with the expected avalanche of hostility we’ve become accustomed to.
Social media users seemed to have seen the funny side of the clip and given her a pass.
“If more nepotism babies were chaotic and open like this I would forgive almost anything,” tweeted one person, while another user said: “I’m so sorry, she is hilarious.”
“This is all we want from nepo babies honestly,” commented one Twitter user. “Other nepo babies plz take notes”.
“Chartering a helicopter from NY to MD for dinner w/ your camp friend is a rad way to get grounded,” said another.
Some were even impressed by Romy’s video editing skills.
“A perfect short film, we have a third generation of Coppola directors,” said one fan, while another added: “This is cinema… she’ll be the greatest Coppola.”
Another agreed: "It has cinematic tension, excellent scene-setting, good evocative props that indicate emotions (onions = tears) shocking family revelations, slapstick comedy, great dialogue..."
“Why did Sofia Coppola’s daughter delete this? It’s art,” stated one Twitter user.
So, is the tide changing and are nepo babies now simply an entertaining balm in difficult times?
We’ll let you be the judge.
