In another installment of the “nepo baby” saga — a popular term for someone who has well-connected parents or relatives in a field — model and founder of Rhode Skin, Hailey Bieber, left the public in a shambles on her vague stand on the “nepo baby” issue, which was set ablaze by a New York Times cover story featuring celebrities born out of Hollywood’s most prominent family tree.
Paparazzi photo of Bieber, 26, received flak — said to be “bland” and “corny” but the Oscar–winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow gave her controversial baby tee a thumbs up via a supportive comment on Instagram.
“I might need a few of these,” she said in an InStyle post.
She found an ally in fellow businesswoman Paltrow, who is cut from the same cloth of nepotism.
Iron Man star Paltrow, 50, is the daughter of actress Blythe Danner and the late director and producer Bruce Paltrow, who died in 2008.
Although, this is not the first time the two skincare entrepreneurs shared a mutual bond over the same topic. Paltrow, a guest for Bieber’s Who’s in My Bathroom, her YouTube online series, goes on the defense of the “nepo babies.”`
“As the child of someone, you get access other people don’t have, so the playing field is not level in that way,” Paltrow said.
She added, “However, I really do feel that once your foot is in the door, which you unfairly got in, then you almost have to work twice as hard and be twice as good.”
The star also imparted words of encouragement to “nepo babies,” telling them to not let anybody or some stranger disrupt their path or the decisions that they make. Bieber agreed, saying “I need to hear this today.”
However, not everyone is on board with Bieber’s recent fashion stint, as Twitter and Instagram posts say so.
“She’s not personable enough to give this staged paparazzi shot for a viral moment any personality. She’s doesn’t act or sing. She gets in and out of cars in beige and black YSL and has a skincare line,” one comment reads.
“If Bella Hadid wore the nepo baby shirt I would of ate that up,” another comment said on Twitter.
While British pop artist Charli XCX tweeted an indifferent reaction to the model. “I respect the nepo baby tshirt attempt,” she tweeted on Monday.
Bieber is labeled as a double “nepo baby” from being married to pop superstar Justin Bieber and as part of the Baldwin clan. Her father is actor Stephen Baldwin and her uncles are actors Alec and Billy Baldwin.
Many celebrities have weighed in on the viral issue, including Forrest Gump star Tom Hanks, who considers entertainment a “family business” as four of his children are involved.
While the “OG Nepo Baby” herself, Jamie Lee Curtis, child of famous actors Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, said that the “current conversation is just designed to try to diminish and denigrate and hurt.”