Here's how celebrities with famous parents have responded to accusations of nepotism: 'Nepo babies have feelings'

Apatow, who rose to renown for her supporting role in the HBO show "Euphoria," is the daughter of famed director Judd Apatow and the actress Leslie Mann. 

She told Net-A-Porter in September that subsets of Twitter and TikTok dedicated to outing nepo babies made her "sad." Apatow said one day she hoped to live up to her lucky lot.

"I try not to let it get to me because I obviously understand that I'm in such a lucky position," she said. "A lot of people [in a similar position] have proven themselves over the years, so I've got to keep going and make good work. It's so early in my career, I don't have much to show yet, but hopefully one day I'll be really proud of the stuff I've done by myself."

Maya Hawke, who stars in Netflix's "Stranger Things," knows that she's received "free" opportunities by dint of the fact that her parents are Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman. But hard work remains a key component of her success. 

"I feel like the only way to handle the nepotism thing — which definitely gives you massive advantages in this life — is, you will get chances for free, but the chances will not be infinite," the actress told Rolling Stone in September. "So you have to keep working and do a good job. If you do a bad job, the chances will stop. That's my ethos."

Dan Levy, the son of "American Pie" actor Eugene Levy, told Page Six in 2018 that at the outset of his career, he never asked his father for help. "I think out of fear of the label of nepotism," he said. 

He added that while the trend is omnipresent across industries, it garners the most criticism in Hollywood. But after working with his dad on "Schitt's Creek," his feelings on the subject evolved. 

"Entertainment seems to be the only arena where children who pursue the work of their parents, which is an inherently natural thing to do, is met with a lot of skepticism," Levy said at the time. "Now that we're working together, it's a completely different story, but I needed to prove to myself that I could stand on my own."

While some fans were surprised to discover Jack Quaid's lineage, with Insider lifestyle reporter Samantha Grindell defending him on social media as "the people's nepo baby," the actor has sought to distance himself from parents Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid.

Quaid, who stars in "The Boys" and "Scream," told Thrillist in June that he considered changing his last name at one point (but struggled to come up with an alternative), and declined his father's early offer to share his agent. 

"I think in the beginning, I was like, 'Oh, do people like me? Do they think that I'm just riding my parents' coattails?' and all this stuff," he told the outlet. "Then lately, I've been making an effort to focus on that less and just really trying to embrace this."

In an interview with Elle in November, Depp said she was "familiar" with the term "nepo baby," but countered that she'd landed her role in HBO's upcoming "The Idol" on the strength of her acting chops.

"Nothing is going to get you the part except for being right for the part," she said. "The internet cares a lot more about who your family is than the people who are casting you in things."

At the same time, Depp called out a kind of sexist bent on the larger nepotism discourse, saying that she tends to hear the criticism more about women than men, adding that she doesn't believe it's "a coincidence."

John David Washington, son of Denzel, initially tried to avoid pursuing an acting career. He attended Morehouse College on a football scholarship for fear of nepotism accusations. 

"What motivated it really was independence, was my own name, was being able to carry my own weight in my life," Washington told CBS in October of his football career, which was cut short by a ruptured Achilles tendon. "Even though I was hiding what I really wanted to do, it gave me an identity."

And while he's pursuing his real passion, starring in Spike Lee's "BlacKkKlansman" and Christopher Nolan's "Tenet," Washington knows that associations with his father will remain inextricable. 

"I have to understand that I can have the best game, career ... the headline's always gonna be what it is," he said. "So to try to prove something to somebody is a fool's errand."