Gwyneth Paltrow began her acting career with a role in the 1989 TV film High, which was directed by her father, Bruce Paltrow. She made her professional stage debut a year later at the Williamstown Theatre Festival after watching her mother, actress Blythe Danner, perform there several times. While having famous parents is a great way to get your foot in the door of your acting career, the Shakespeare in Love actress explained how it can come with a lot of negative consequences too.
There is a lot of pressure in being seen as a talented performer when you’re known for being in the business with the help of famous parents. In an episode of Hailey Bieber’s YouTube series Who’s In My Bathroom?, Paltrow spoke to the young model while making smoothies about the insistence to be twice as good so you are not defined by your celebrity parents. In her words:
As the child of someone, you get access other people don’t have, so the playing field is not level in that way. 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.”
As Hailey Bieber is the daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin and was born in an acting family, this was definitely the advice that the 25-year-old needed to hear. Other young talent can relate to the Iron Man star’s advice, like Zoë Kravitz, who admitted that breaking into Hollywood and getting an agent was easy when having famous parents (as she’s the daughter of The Cosby Show’s Lisa Bonet and musician Lenny Kravitz), but her love of performing was all her. Full House’s Candace Cameron Bure’s daughter also was under scrutiny for others believing her acting credits were handed to her because of her famous parents when she said she had to work just as hard as anyone else. This proves that family connections may be helpful, but you still have to have as much talent and perseverance as anyone else does.
Gwyneth Paltrow continued to share with Hailey Baldwin about how the need to work twice as hard as anyone else comes from the fear of being told you won’t belong in the business. She explained:
Because people are ready to pull you down and say. You don’t belong there’ or ‘You are only there because of your dad or your mom.’
The best advice that the 49-year-old entrepreneur had to give to “nepo babies” was to not let this label get you down; that no one should have a negative impact on your career path. This is good advice for anyone suffering from haters making you think you didn’t earn your spot. For all you know, maybe those people are just jealous that you were able to do something they couldn’t do themselves.
Gwyneth Paltrow’s own kids (18-year-old Apple, who looks just like her mom and 16-year-old Moses) have no plans in following their mom’s footsteps in acting. They’ve stayed disconnected from their mother’s time as an actress, as her son has seen her in the Iron Man movies, while Apple hasn’t seen any of her mother’s movies. This is probably a reassuring fact to Paltrow, who once dropped an f-bomb about parenting struggles, specifically about being tempted to push your kids in a particular direction instead of letting them emerge as their own people. With patience, kids will eventually get there in deciding what path works for them.
While this Oscar winner has had 30 years in the entertainment industry, she followed her own path towards Goop, which had a difficult time in 2021, but she didn’t need help from her parents to start up the business. This was her own venture that she decided to focus on herself. This will inspire her own children to create their own futures. Just in case Gwyneth Paltrow comes out of acting retirement (which some people want to happen), keep up with CinemaBlend’s 2022 movie schedule so you’ll be the first to know all about it.