Top Gun: Maverick’s Jennifer Connelly recently stepped into the “nepo baby debate,” although she doesn’t know what a nepo baby is and why it is being debated at all. The actress is starring in the film Bad Behaviour, the directorial debut of the movie’s writer and star Alice Englert, who by definition is a nepo baby. However, when the subject came up in a recent interview with IndieWire, Connelly clearly sees the whole thing as a non-issue. She said:

Jennifer Connelly certainly doesn’t seem to be on board with the idea of nepo babies, which seems to be the general sentiment in Hollywood, with many stars having given their opinions on the subject in the last couple of months since the nepo baby concept blew up thanks to various articles including a feature in New York Magazine.

“I haven’t been following the nepo baby debate. I don’t know what the debate is.” After the concept was explained she continued, “But that’s not a debate. I think Alices mom is wildly talented and has made amazing movies. I worked with Alice because I read her script and I thought her script was really interesting. I watched her short films, the two short film’s she’s directed, and I thought they were so good. They’re funny, I thought, in such a way that I hadn’t seen before. I was just captivated by her as a filmmaker.”

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The movie Bad Behaviour debuted at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival in January with mostly favorable reviews. The film stars Connelly alongside Ben Whishaw, Alice Englert herself, Dasha Nekrasova, and Marlon Williams in the dark comedy that sees former child actress Lucy (Connelly) seeing enlightenment through a spiritual retreat and leader Elon (Whishaw).

Why Has the Nepo Baby Debate Blown Up Recently?

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Following the New York Magazine article, it became apparent that a vast number of current Hollywood stars, both in front and behind the camera, have roots somewhere in the industry’s past. This includes prominent players such as Jamie Lee Curtis, Kate Hudson, Ben Stiller, Sofia Coppola, and George Clooney. While there are many others, including those who have had strong careers under a name that doesn’t use the family name.

Jamie Lee Curtis slammed the way the conversation has turned recently, saying that the stigma of having famous parents is simply a way to put down stars who come from famous families. She previously said:

Part of the debate has been centered around families like the Kardashians, who continue to add new levels to the family members who have gained fame from the name. At the same time, other long-standing movie stars have also been targeted for their “privileged” introduction to the industry, no matter what they have achieved since.

“I’ve never understood, nor will I, what qualities got me hired that day, but since my first two lines on Quincy as a contract player at Universal Studios to this last spectacular creative year some 44 years later, there’s not a day in my professional life that goes by without my being reminded that I am the daughter of movie stars. The current conversation about nepo babies is just designed to try to diminish and denigrate and hurt.”