Nepo baby Emma Roberts claims she ‘lost a couple’ of roles for being a nepo baby

Emma Roberts — whose aunt is Julia Roberts and father is Eric Roberts — has weighed in on the “nepo baby” narrative. She has claimed that she has “lost a couple” of roles as a result of her nepo baby status.

The American Horror Story actor got her start on Nickelodeon’s Unfabulous (2004-2007), before going on to star in the teenage romance comedy Wild Child (2008). 

But despite being featured in the 2010 ensemble romantic comedy Valentine’s Day alongside her aunt Julia Roberts, the actor claimed that she has lost a few potential jobs due to her family connections. 

The star has claimed she has “never gotten a job” due to her famous father Eric (The Dark Knight, The Expendables) or Julia (Pretty Woman, Eat, Pray, Love). “I’ve lost more jobs than I’ve gained from being in the business,” Roberts said in an interview with Flaunt. 

“People have opinions and sometimes maybe they’re not good opinions of people in your family. I’ve never gotten a job because of it, I know I definitely have lost a couple of jobs because of it.”

The Madame Web actor managed to forgo being mentioned in the infamous 2022 New York Magazine “Nepo Baby” feature. The magazine saw the likes of Ben Platt and several other actors superimposed on babies’ bodies with the headline: “She has her mother’s eyes. And agent.”

Speaking of the feature, Roberts said: “It was a cheap shot to put all the celebrity kids on the cover of a magazine on babies’ bodies.

“It’s like maybe the ‘Nepo Baby’ conversation would’ve been a more interesting article written intelligently in Vanity Fair with nuance, but instead, it was kind of this viral hating-on-people thing.”

Roberts has recently called out double standards around the “nepo baby” conversation, suggesting that Cisgender men don’t seem to face the same scrutiny as Cisgender women. 

“I always joke, ‘Why is no one calling out George Clooney for being a nepo baby?’ [His aunt] Rosemary Clooney was an icon,” Roberts said on the Table for Two podcast.

“I think there’s two sides of the coin, you know. People like to say, ‘You have a leg up because you have family in the industry,’ but then the other side to that is, you know, you have to prove yourself more,” the actor added.

“Also, if people don’t have [a] good experience maybe with other people in your family, then you’ll never get the chance.”