Lily-Rose Depp Does Not Want to Be Called a 'Nepo Baby'

Lily-Rose Depp was born in 1999 to actors Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis, eventually joined by a younger brother, Jack, before the couple split in 2012. After landing a small role in the 2014 horror comedy Tusk, she was launched into Hollywood with various magazine covers, music video roles and acting gigs. She was even chosen by Karl Lagerfeld to be the face of Chanel's iconic Chanel No. 5 fragrance when she was only 17.

Naturally, the status of her parents would make one assume that it's been smooth sailing in the industry. In a recent Elle interview, Depp wanted to set the record straight about the nepotism allegations.

Related | The Weeknd Has a New Series Coming to HBO

"I’m familiar. The internet seems to care a lot about that kind of stuff," Depp said. "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."

She further goes on to clap back at the armchair detectives who think they have her all figured out. "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."

Depp also notes that gender comes into play, observing that she doesn't hear as many people accuse men of being nepo babies. "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.’"

A lot of Depp's recent narrative surrounds her relationship with her father's highly publicized legal battle with ex-wife Amber Heard, who he won a defamation case against earlier this year after she came forward to accuse him of domestic abuse. She wishes to be separate from that, telling Elle:

"When it’s something that’s so private and so personal that all of a sudden becomes not so personal…I feel really entitled to my secret garden of thoughts. 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. And I’m really ready to be defined for the things that I put out there."

Photo courtesy of Matteo Pradoni/BFA