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Jack Nicholson's alleged daughter has slammed Lily-Rose Depp for suggesting that nepotism has added little benefit to her career as an actress.
In a new interview with Elle, Depp, daughter of Hollywood screen star Johnny Depp and French singer and actress Vanessa Paradis, denounced the idea that her father's name has opened doors for her, painting such talk as sexist.
"I just hear it a lot more about women, and I don't think that it's a coincidence," said Lily-Rose Depp, 23, who models for Chanel and has a starring role in upcoming HBO show The Idol. "It's weird to me to reduce somebody to the idea that they're only there because it's a generational thing. It just doesn't make any sense.
"If somebody's mom or dad is a doctor, and then the kid becomes a doctor, you're not going to be like, 'Well, you're only a doctor because your parent is a doctor.' It's like, 'No, I went to medical school and trained.'"
The French-born actress, who clarified that she doesn't compare her work to those in the medical field, said: "I know my childhood didn't look like everybody's childhood, and it's a very particular thing to deal with, but it's also the only thing that I know...
"The internet seems to care a lot about that kind of stuff. People are going to have preconceived ideas about you or how you got there, and I can definitely say that nothing is going to get you the part except for being right for the part.
"The internet cares a lot more about who your family is than the people who are casting you in things. Maybe you get your foot in the door, but you still just have your foot in the door. There's a lot of work that comes after that."
"I also think that I'm not here to answer for anybody, and I feel like for a lot of my career, people have really wanted to define me by the men in my life, whether that's my family members or my boyfriends, whatever," she said. "And I'm really ready to be defined for the things that I put out there."
After the interview was circulated across social media on Wednesday, Tessa Gourin, who is reported to be the daughter of veteran actor Nicholson, shared a series of Instagram Story posts in which she slammed Lily-Rose Depp's take.
Posting a screenshot of IndieWire's headline on the interview—which read: "Lily Rose Slams 'Nepo Baby' Label: People Want to Define Me 'By the Men in My Life'"—Gourin, 28, wrote: "Things could be worse girl trust me!!"
"I'd be thrilled to use my 'nepo baby' title (that I can't claim bc it isn't considered 'legitimate') if it meant I could get in the room and showcase my talent and craft," Gourin went on to share in a follow-up post. "Do you know how hard it is to even get an audition?! Let alone an agent/manager?! Now we're gonna cry about that??!!!"
"This obsession our society has with identifying as victims in any circumstance is truly terrifying to me," she continued. "Acting is an art form and a craft. Use your rage of feeling misunderstood or victimized by Hollywood and put it into work that you are so lucky to be getting!!!!
"Can we just start taking the win? F***. Life is unfair. It is the artist's DUTY to take the unfairness of life and put it into their work. End of story."
Gourin, an actress and artist who had a role in the 2018 movie Stranger's Arms, went on: "Do you know where I put my complicated feelings about the way 'men in my life have defined me?' THE STAGE!!!!!!
"The more dedicated to my craft I have become, the more liberating it has felt to let my art speak for me. (With the help of the playwright of course). After all, that is at the core, what being an actor is."
In her final post on the matter, Gourin noted that "a lot more people are engaging with my stories than normal," as she questioned whether it was "because of the whole Jack Nicholson thing."
"I'm gonna USE THAT [...] to promote my ceramics account," she quipped, before sharing a link to the corresponding Instagram account. "In this house? We are resourceful and take the win. Manic rant over."
Lily-Rose Depp had previously admitted that being the daughter of celebrities proved to be advantageous to launching her career in entertainment.
"I'm not going to say that it doesn't make it easier to get your name out there," she told W Magazine back in 2019. "Obviously it does. But honestly, to me there's also something even a little harder about it, because the expectations are so insanely high."
Gourin's mother, New York City real estate agent Jennine Gourin, was reported to have had a fling with Nicholson in the early 1990s, leading to her falling pregnant with the actress, to whom she gave birth in 1994. Nicholson, who has five other offspring, has never publicly stated that Tessa Gourin is his child.
Newsweek has reached out to representatives of Nicholson and Lily-Rose Depp for comment.
About the writer
Ryan Smith is a Newsweek Senior Pop Culture and Entertainment Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on ... Read more