Rob Lowe on the nepo baby debate: “Nobody thinks twice when your kid joins the family plumbing business”

Posted On August 2, 2024August 2, 2024

Rob Lowe has spoken about Hollywood’s nepotism debate as he and his son, John Owen Lowe, are preparing to play father and son in the second season of their Netflix comedy Unstable. To them, it’s a meta-exploration of their relationship both as family and to their industry. But to others, the Lowe family are merely furthering the issue of nepotism in the entertainment world.

In this new series especially, the Lowe family are leaning into the weirdness of their circumstances as their characters, Ellis and Jackson Dragon, also find themselves acting within the show. “It took doing a TV show with each other for Rob and I to re-explore some of the deeper parts of our interpersonal relationship, so we figured, why not make it so that Ellis and Jackson have to literally play characters in order for them to work through an interpersonal conflict?” John Owen told Variety. He added, “It’s literally a wink at what we’re doing on the show for our father-son relationship.”

However, as John Owen follows his father’s footsteps closely into Hollywood, some might take issue with the fact. As the world of entertainment, whether that be acting, music or any creative job, is incredibly and notoriously difficult to get into and begin to build a sustainable and liveable career, many take issue with these so-called ‘nepo babies’ who get a leg up, or have the door into the working world simply opened for them by their parents.

However, John Owen said he’s “made peace” with the fact that people will always try to chalk his success up to his father. “I could be on stage accepting an award and there’s going to be people that look at me and think, ‘He’s only up there because of his dad, or because of his connections, or because of the doors that were opened for him’”, he said.

“Look, there’s a part of it that is true, of course,” he admitted. But he continued, “I think the thing that I have learned to be grateful for and to stay mindful of is that my work ethic is what will keep me around and actually help me find longevity in this industry. I can both be grateful for what’s been provided to me and continue to push myself.”

The mention of “work ethic” is a common comment brought up in these debates, with people labelled as ‘nepo babies’ like Lily-Rose Depp, Brooklyn Beckham, or Kaia Gerber all claiming to work harder than those around them. However, the issue that the general public takes with their position within difficult industries is not about the effort they put in but about the lack of effort they have to put in to get into that world in the first place, in contrast to the millions of others who dream about being in their position.

For Rob Lowe, he brushed it off as a “novelty” debate. “Nobody thinks twice when your kid joins the family plumbing business or becomes a painter or an architect or a dentist, or becomes a second-generation doctor,” he said. “ I happily opened doors for Johnny in this business and my son Matthew, who’s an attorney. That’s what dads do, if they can,” he added.

However, Echoing his son’s comments about work and effort, Rob Lowe claimed even nepo babies have to prove their worth. He said, “You can get them on the team, but if they don’t put points on the board, they’re going to get cut.”