After “Nepo Baby” was used in a 2022 X (formerly Twitter) post and later became New York Magazine’s headline that year with the title “Year of the Nepo Baby,” the term has been widely debated. While some children of celebrities have gotten defensive, others have admitted to using it to their advantage.
Iconic actress Kate Winslet has three kids, and two of them have followed her into the entertainment industry. While being the child of an acclaimed, award-winning actress would seem like a significant benefit to getting jobs, Winslet insists that’s not the case.
“These kids are not getting a leg up,” she boldly stated to the BBC.
In fact, her daughter, Mia Threapleton, 25, and her son, Joe Anders, 21, were so worried about getting special treatment instead of being recognized for their talent that they kept their last names different from their famous mom. And, while both have appeared in films with Winslet — Threapleton in A Little Chaos and I am Ruth, and Anders in Lee — both have had success in their own right. Most recently, Threapleton starred in Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme opposite Benicio DelToro. Anders, an actor and writer, wrote the screenplay for Winslet’s next film, Goodbye June.
“Joe would say to me, ‘I don’t want people to think this film is just being made because you’re my mum,'” Winslet revealed. “The film would have been made with or without me. The script is so good. It was the script that attracted all these wonderful actors.”
Winslet previously revealed on The Graham Norton Show that after reading the script, she “couldn’t let it go,” telling him, “You’ve written a film and we are going to make it.”
She then made the decision to step behind the camera for the first time ever.
“My wonderful son wrote it. He did a screen-writing course and was encouraged to write from the heart and the most significant thing that had happened to him was the loss of his grandmother when he was 13,” she said.
The film’s cast is impressive, with Helen Mirren, Toni Collette, Andrea Riseborough, and Timothy Spall among those who signed on. Winslet also told The Graham Norton Show (via The Standard) that Mirren never wanted to play someone with dementia or cancer, but she broke that to appear in the film.
“She still asked to see the script, and then she sent me an email saying she was breaking her own rule because it was such a wonderful project,” Winslet said.
Winslet pointed out that there are kids with lawyers or doctors for parents who also choose to go into those professions, and she doesn’t think it’s any different for kids with artistic parents.
“But that doesn’t necessarily translate to being able to actually get jobs and actually gain respect from your peers and people around you,” the Titanic star insisted. “And both of them have separately carved their own paths.”
“Part of it is actually teaching them to ignore the white noise of silly terms like nepo baby, which you can’t really do anything about,” she added.
This story was originally published by Parade on Dec 10, 2025, where it first appeared in the Celebs section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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