I can’t believe I’m going to sit here and defend Brooklyn Beckham, but that’s exactly what is about to happen. First off, the backstory: the Spice Girls’ Mel B has a 25-year-old daughter named Phoenix Chi Gulzar. Phoenix has made a documentary called Born in the Limelight: Nepo Babies. Within the documentary, Phoenix claims that Prince William is the ultimate nepo baby, and that there’s barely a difference between William and someone like Brooklyn Beckham. While I agree that William is a nepo baby, I disagree with the Brooklyn Beckham comparison!
The Prince of Wales is the ultimate nepo baby, according to the daughter of Spice Girl Mel B, who has compared him to Brooklyn Beckham. Phoenix Chi Gulzar, 25, has made a Channel 4 documentary called Born in the Limelight: Nepo Babies.
In the programme she asks why Brooklyn, the son of David and Victoria Beckham, is pilloried for having career opportunities handed to him on a plate, while Prince William, whom she describes as “the most famous aristo nepo”, is not.
“I wonder why society has accepted the ultimate nepo baby in the Royal family but not in the world of celebrities?” she asks.
The documentary includes analysis of social media posts about the two men, finding that 51 per cent of references to Beckham’s career are negative compared with 35 per cent of those about the Prince’s endeavours. Beckham’s varied career includes working as a model, photographer and chef. He hosted an online cookery programme which reportedly required a team of 62 to film him making a sandwich. The 25-year-old currently describes himself as an “entrepreneur” and recently launched a company selling organic hot sauce for £29.
The Beckhams’ middle son, Cruz, 19, gave a bizarre response recently to jibes about his “nepo baby” status. The aspiring musician shared a taster of his new song on Instagram on Christmas Day and wrote: “Jesus was also a nepo baby.” He later deleted the comment.
Gulzar, a DJ and entrepreneur, is the daughter of Melanie Brown and her first husband, Jimmy Gulzar, who was a dancer with the Spice Girls. She argues in the programme that young aristocrats who receive money from trust funds are no different to the children of celebrities, but they avoid criticism by going under the radar.
If anything, I think society should be a lot kinder to someone like Brooklyn. Yes, he’s failed up multiple times and he’s gotten bored and abandoned various careers, but none of it was taxpayer-funded. No one is paying for a celebrity nepo-baby’s lifestyle but their parents. UK taxpayers are paying for William to play with shovels. UK taxpayers are paying for Kate’s buttons and Camilla’s booze. That’s a lot worse! Honestly, though, Phoenix’s general thesis is correct, and she should talk more about the class divide between nepo babies. As in, the son of some lord or earl isn’t called a nepo baby because he was born into the aristocracy. There’s also an implicit conversation about new money versus old money – the old-money people look down on new-money parents financing their kids’ careers, all while the old-money parents do the exact same thing.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.
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- Portofino, ITALY – David and Victoria Beckham’s eldest son, Brooklyn Beckham and wife Nicola Peltz wear matching white outfits while out in Portofino. Pictured: Brooklyn Beckham BACKGRID USA 4 JULY 2022 BYLINE MUST READ: Cobra Team / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- PARIS, FRANCE – Former model Brooklyn Beckham steps out from La Réserve restaurant amid the excitement of Paris Fashion Week (PFW) 2024-2025. Pictured: Brooklyn Beckham BACKGRID USA 28 FEBRUARY 2024 BYLINE MUST READ: Best Image / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Variety`s 2022 Power of Young Hollywood. NeueHouse. Featuring: Brooklyn Peltz Beckham Where: Los Angeles, California, United States When: 11 Aug 2022 Credit: BauerGriffin/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images
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- The Prince of Wales attends Earthshot+, at Portside Tower in Cape Town, a day of impactful conversations with world-leading experts aimed at multiplying the impact of The Earthshot Prize, on day two of his visit to South Africa for the fourth annual Earthshot Prize Awards ceremony on November 6 Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: Cape Town, South Africa When: 05 Nov 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales visits Kalk Bay Harbour, Cape Town, to speak to local fishermen and highlight the contributions of 2023 Earthshot Finalist Abalobi, on the last day of his visit to South Africa. Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: Cape Town, South Africa When: 07 Nov 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales tries out a motorbike in the state-of-the-art Virtual Production Studio, where students are developing their skillsets in virtual production, during a visit to Ulster University’s Belfast City Campus Centre, to hear about work that is being carried out to solidify Northern Ireland as a global leader of creative excellence and innovation by developing and upskilling the future workforce and expanding technological capabilities Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: Belfast, United Kingdom When: 14 Nov 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales during a visit to Homewards Newport in Newport to hear about the local coalition’s approach to preventing women’s homelessness in the city, and unveil commitments from local organisations who have pledged their support Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: Newport, United Kingdom When: 20 Nov 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales, co-patron of the Jewel of Arabia Expedition, during the London launch of the expedition at The Royal Geographical Society, London. The Expedition – which is inspired by a route taken by British explorer Bertram Thomas in 1928 along the southeast coast of Oman – aims to raise awareness amongst young people both in and outside of Oman of the value of the country’s natural heritage and biodiversity as well as environmental challenges. Featuring: Prince William Where: London, United Kingdom When: 25 Nov 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales, Colonel of the Welsh Guards, launching a drone during a visit to the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards at Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, to hear how they have been transitioning from ceremonial duty back to the Field Army Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: Salisbury, United Kingdom When: 26 Nov 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
I agree with her and also with your point concerning taxpayers. But honestly, the majority of UK taxpayers don’t seem to mind funding the RF, so good for them. I don’t get it, but if they like it…
Don’t mind or don’t see a clear way to get rid of them?
A lot of us don’t like or respect the monarchy and consider them too expensive and Will definitely isn’t delivering. There would be a lot more outrage if their finances were properly covered and amplified with sustained pressure coverage. Look at the impact Mr Bates versus the Post Office had last year on ITV. Instead the press and BBC are in bed with RF and fawn over them in a nauseating manner. Meg gets an undeserved bashing over an innocuous cookery show whilst there is no outcry over King and PoW charging NHS and Army for use of duchy land?
As @Lady Digby says, it is very much hushed up. The Guardian (possibly in collaboration with others) keeps trying to use freedom if information requests to find out how much royal security costs and is blocked each time.
Definitely a code of silence in the press on the true cost of the royals.
I have a lot more respect for brooklyn. The boy is born rich, but he tries and fails and tries again to make it. Nepo egg william gets paid by the people and doesnt even try as hard.
Wank is just. F-ing baby no matter how you look at him. He can’t do anything but sit and throw tantrums from his crib of luxury. He sleeps all day and can’t seem to control his emotions. He is just the ultimate baby . Nepo and all.
That motorcycle Arizona background picture is exhibit No 1. I mean that was considered a work event (or two).
I suppose the reasoning is that William (or the son of an earl or lord) wasn’t given a job by his father – he was born with a job, which is to continue the god-anointed aristocratic line. And I suppose all the other offspring are born with the job of supporting the RF. But, if you take god out of the picture, then it’s just another way to keep the fortune in the family.
exactly. Brooklyn Beckham is a great example of nepo baby who gets coverage and, therefor, celebrity just because of who his parents are. All his opportunities come from that and he hasn’t earned (actually done the work or shown an actual talent or skill to warrant the attention and celebrity he has)
Mel B’s daughter seems to not understand that royalty/aristocratic titles are known to be status inherited as “birthright” or confirmed via marriage to someone who inherited a title. There’s no question of nepotism or not (also Chuck didn’t get to choose which son was the first in line or pick someone else in the family to be his heir) and it’s not a position someone can earn.
While both have immense privilege based on who their parents are, there are differences
I thought it was already understood that Prince William benefits far beyond normal from the position he was born into. That’s like pointing out water is wet.
They need to find a better comparison … unless she’s trying to say celebrities are like royalty and their class status is or should be fixed. I would have picked a different example….
Brooklyn Beckham and his wife are trust fund babies who expect careers to be handed to them because they are rich. If Brooklyn was serious about photography he wouldn’t have dropped out of Parsons after a year.
Prince William comes from a 1,000 year line of nepo babies allegedly anointed by god. The two scenarios are not comparable.
She’s a 25yo with a famous mother who got the opportunity to create a documentary and completely misses the irony of that situation.
She never denied being a nepo baby herself, no? I don’t get how she “misses the irony…..”.
All I can think is Scary Spice’s child is 25 year old?! Damn I’m old. Hope her documentary gets better ratings than William’s vanity programs!
Oh maaaan. I can remember when Jimmy Gulzar was this try-hard featured in the UK celeb mags :)))
Phoenix has a good point. Daughter of a Spice Girl defending the son of another Spice Girl by pointing out opportunities available to them and that one gets criticized by fallig up, the other gets a pass. I do find it interesting that she’s equating royalty to celebrity, because during QE2’s time, there was a lot of pushback against that. QE2 did say that the royals had to be seen, and she made sure she was regularly seen all over–this is not something that W has been doing at all.
And then one of Beckham’s sons writes Jesus is a nepo-baby? And they’re wondering why they get made fun of???
If I had that much money from my parents, I’d just be quiet and enjoy a cruise somewhere.
I laughed at Jesus is the ultimate nepotism baby. As God’s Son He even out ranks the nepo baby ‘anointed by God’ kid. The Beck kid has a sense of humour, so do I and apparently, so does God!
I actually think this is a really good analogy, although obviously it isn’t perfect. William has every door opened for him immediately that he even thinks he might want to open maybe one day in the future. William has access to “things” – people, money, resources – that he only has access to by virtue of who his parents are/were.
I mean that’s the whole point of a hereditary monarchy but I think its good to hear someone put it so plainly. Every opportunity that William has, he has because of his birth. That’s not different from someone like Brooklyn Beckham or Lily Rose-Depp or Dakota Johnson – the difference with those nepo babies is that if they can’t produce work, at some point the doors DO start to close. There’s a reason people forget that some people are nepo babies – its because their work stands for itself. Kate Hudson had a huge leg up because of her parents (including her quasi stepfather) but the reason “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” is one of my favorite rom coms is because of HER, not because she’s Goldie’s daughter.
Nepo babies have a different level of support and access than normal people do because of their parents and no one can argue that William doesn’t have that support and access.
The only difference with him is that no matter what he does, he’s going to be king and the taxpayers have to keep supporting him.
For Brooklyn Beckham, his parents can keep supporting him as long as they want but if no one wants to buy his hot sauce, they don’t have to.
Honestly, to me it sounded like a bit of a conceited thing to say that a celebrity’s position is or should be considered fixed like a royal’s birth position. The comparison sounds odd as if they want to be treated with the same level of grandiosity. At the end of the day Brooklyn Beckham gets made fun because he doesn’t know to actually make a hamburger but wants us to watch him try. Why he simply doesn’t go to school to learn something like other rich people’s kids do is a bit baffling to me. If William went on tv trying to make a disastrous hamburger sandwich, I have my doubts he’d be immune to mocking.
Well, in some ways a celebrity’s position IS fixed though. Brooklyn Beckham is the son of two extremely famous parents and he can’t do anything about that, and he will always be their son.
I don’t think its about expecting the “same level of grandiosity” – if anything I think she’s saying the royals and aristocracy should be taken LESS seriously. At least Brooklyn’s parents worked for their money and their status.
We have seen William fake cook before and while there was some mockery, it was nowhere near the level that Brooklyn Beckham got.
William is part of a fixed system of primogeniture. I’m not condoning it — I’m just saying it’s there.
Brooklyn’s position isn’t fixed. Depending on his skills, he can move up or down in terms of economic mobility. If he blows his dad’s money, he’s average like the rest of us. Or he can stay rich if he invests well. His father was able to achieve upward mobility using his talent and skill. Same for his mother. For whatever reason, he doesn’t seem to have inherited their abilities, which is probably what people are puzzled by, but he could go to school to learn something.
Apple Martin is a nepo- baby but people rarely make fun of her because she’s fairly private and not trying to fail at making a hamburger on tv. There are ways to avoid the mocking…
William has a whole country’s media and other instructions protecting his nepo baby status. That is more egregious than celebrity nepobabies because there are many children of famous people who don’t become famous. We just don’t hear about them.
William is also showing just how little you need to do to fail up in the top job. Sure Charles was a nepobaby too, but he at least pretends he’s doing something.
If William’s status is protected, it’s because he was born into a system that’s been there for thousands of years. It’s the system that gets protected rather than he alone. Dismantle the system and everyone else underneath him but still within the system, including Diana’s brother, loses their power, status, and lands too. Obviously it will stay protected for those reasons, even if we disagree with its existence. The Earls and Dukes don’t want to lose their estates anymore than William does.
You say that all the opportunities that went Brooklyn’s way don’t hurt “the taxpayer”, but what about the deserving, talented people who didn’t get ad opportunity because mediocre Brooklyn took it, and then moved on to his next thing?
I don’t understand how someone in Brooklyn’s position, with access to the best education money can buy and absolutely no pressure to rush to provide for himself wouldn’t take advantage of it. Same goes for a the rest of the nepo babies who are content with being Instagram influencers or models.
Well to me, that’s kind of the issue with all nepo babies, right? They’re taking up a space that someone else – someone arguably more talented, more hardworking – could have. Especially at the outset when some of them are starting out – they’re getting auditions other actors aren’t getting or getting modeling gigs others aren’t even being considered for.
And that’s why I think this works as a comparison to William – he’s taking up a space someone else could have by virtue of his birth. Hell hes taking up spaces that aren’t even offered to other people by virtue of his birth (i.e. his cushy air ambulance schedule, his bespoke agriculture course, etc.)
I said above it’s not a perfect analogy but overall it works. Even in your comment – substitute William instead of Brooklyn and its a perfect fit – “I don’t understand how someone in William’s position, with access to the best education money can buy and absolutely no pressure to rush to provide for himself wouldn’t take advantage of it.”
There are nepo babies beyond just celebrity people. Many law firms or doctors practices have more than one family member.
The difference with William and the rest of them is that William just has to outlive his father to get the top job.
@Nic919 Those people do have to study for a degree and to be licensed. Not completely just handed to them for being born.
I didn’t see her comment as an attack on Brooklyn. I think she was actually asking for grace for him as she is basically in the exact same situation as Brooklyn and the other Beckham children, only less successful and well known. I think the documentary is trying to question why William gets a pass, especially as a tax funded nepo baby, when those who aren’t tax funded get a raw deal by being attacked for basically the same thing.
Hmm I don’t think this comparison works. The term “nepo baby” was popularized in Hollywood, because that industry is supposed to be based on talent. For example, Ben Stiller called Hollywood “a meritocracy” regarding nepotism discussion. He was emphasizing that the nepotism doesn’t define the industry, but the talent. We know that isn’t true, since the connection is opening doors to lots of nepo babies with minimal talent, while the talented people with no powerful connection can’t even get into the room for auditions if they aren’t lucky.
Is the royalty or aristocracy based on talent? It is basically land / asset ownership getting transferred to next generation. The talent isn’t required to become an Earl or Prince of Wales.
Brooklyn can get all his trust fund and money assistance from his parents and go into business to make money. That is fine. It makes people annoyed when he is trying to publish a photography book or to market himself as a chef when he has no talent in any of them. He is getting deals because of his connections, not his talent. That is the ultimate nepo baby behaviour.
That’s where I think the analogy falls apart, because the criticism of “nepo babies” is that it exposes Hollywood as almost an aristocracy of sorts, not a meritocracy. But I think it still works because her point is that the actual aristocrats are given a pass here (and Hollywood was never a complete meritocracy anyway.)
For nepo babies, at some point they do still need to produce and show talent and marketability, even if its not in their chosen profession. There is never that accountability for Prince William – he can go from one cause to another, he can proclaim peace in the middle east one year and then end racism the next year – and no one ever says “hey where are his receipts?”
Nepo babies get criticized all the time for their endeavors or riding on their parents’ coattails and William escapes that same criticism. Like i said its not perfect because William was always going to benefit from his parents and his family and the nature of his birth, but so was Brooklyn Beckham, you know? Just in a different way.
One thing we often say on here about nepo babies is that its helpful if they acknowledge their privilege and how their family ties/connections helped them get where they are. It’s trickier for William in that regard because his entire family is one big nepo-family, but again to me its about acknowledging privilege and why you have the access you have. William seems incapable of that.
We often talk on here about how nepotism is in every industry – not just Hollywood – and that’s where I think this starts to become more relevant. Aristos get cushy jobs because of who they know or who their parents know (cough Princess Beatrice cough).
Anyway like I said its far from perfect but I think its an interesting starting point for a conversation about inherited wealth and titles – especially when part of that inheritance is the role of head of state.
The analogy can be applied to pretty much every aristocrat, except for the heir to the throne. William’s only job is to be the next king. It doesn’t matter whether he uses his access or not, whether he accomplishes any of his pipe dreams or not, whether he even wants to be king or not. William’s the next king and he sired the king to follow – after that, practically no one gives a rat’s ass whether he’s a person or not. William can acknowledge his privilege, but he’s also stuck in a life where the only way out is either to abdicate or die. Other nepo-babies have a choice.
Well, right – he’s the next king whether he wants to be or not (unless he abdicates, which I doubt.) But isn’t that a different form of nepotism? He is where he is by virtue of his birth. He has his job (or future job) because of who his family and parents are. It’s just a different way of looking at it.
and I guess technically he does have a choice, its just one that we know he will never make.
But in terms of being a nepo-baby – it doesn’t work for the end job like you said, because his job as king as set – Brooklyn B wasn’t given a job as a starter on Man U because of his father (lol can you imagine), but it works otherwise as you look at his life. He got into St Andrews because hes Prince william. He got into Eton because he’s Prince William. Everything he has had in his life is because he’s Prince William.
I think its a different way of looking at nepotism and the monarchy and thats why I find some of the counterpoints here fascinating.
Obviously there are some differences and its not going to be 100% accurate across the board, but I think her starting point of “why is Brooklyn mocked for being a nepo baby but its accepted that Prince William is and he’s not mocked in the same way for it.”
Like the fact that William gets to pretend to be a global statesman and people pretend to take him seriously is something we laugh about on here but its not laughed about the way Brooklyn Beckham wanting to be a chef is mocked.
@Becks1 – what complicates things is that this whole idea of nepo-babies narrows the definition of nepotism – which is not necessarily about birth. It’s about someone granting favors, jobs, advantages, even power, based on a personal connection – it could be a family member or a friend or just an acquaintance. People become ambassadors not because of their expertise in diplomacy but because they’re a friend of the president or donated a pantload of money to his campaign.
With the William/Brooklyn argument, it’s not just about money or celebrity, there’s the element of power involved. William is in a position to practice nepotism, to grant favors – the press knows that, so they back off. Brooklyn isn’t in a position to grant anything really, so he’s fair game.
Royalty and aristocracy in general are the ultimate nepo babies. There is literally nothing expected of them once they emerge from the right womb. William proves this every day.
Great perspective that William is the world’s number 1 nepo baby. In fact he has it much easier as the job of heir to the throne is given to him at birth. The celebrity nepo babies have it much harder, they have to find their own identity and carve their sucess.
LOL yes, the peerage is the original nepo baby system.
I agree with Phoenix but I also see Kaiser’s point
To add to one of the themes that comes from the comments above, when a nepo baby with little to no talent takes a job from someone with talent that’s an issue but if Brooklyn wants to hire 62 people to film him make a sandwich (assuming they were on decent terms) then have at it.
Brooklyn can do what he wants but why he or his friends would be puzzled he gets made fun of us is puzzling to me. If I were to put out a cringeworthy video of myself on Instagram, I’d be made fun of too and I’m not a nepo baby. It’s the age of social media we live in — no one can avoid it.
To me the analogy works and it is nice to see it pointed out. The royal families are the ultimate nepo babies. They had some ancestor who raped and pillaged and managed to set up a system to hang on for as long as possible. And to use god as an excuse, to boot. Truly the ultimate. Brooklyn and the other children of wealthy and powerful parents can only dream of that level of privilege, though they still have plenty just the same.
The article references modelling as one of Brooklyn’s career paths. Well, yeah, if you pick that line of work when you don’t actually match up to other models physically people will critique you. That field is tough even on people who actually look like models…
The fields he picks aren’t ones that shield people from criticism.
All royals are nepo babies.
It amazes me how the Brits defend the Royals and believe that the tourists they generate pays For it all! I say their heads are in the sand and the British are paying for the fake medals, the coz play events and the gold coaches! They also tolerate having their news filtered to them. They only get what the Royals allow! But lets bash Harry and his family daily for having a life away from the prison that is the royal family!
People have made assassination attempts on King Charles when he was Prince of Wales. So I think people do tend to make their dislike of the royal family known if an opportunity presents itself where security is lax. It’s likely there are other attempts we don’t hear about.
The worst that happens to Brooklyn Beckham is he gets made fun of on occasion. No one really cares that much that he’s super rich because of his parents.