Emma Roberts has expressed that nepotism has not only caused her to lose work in the industry, but also revealed that she has ‘never gotten a job’ because of it.
The Scream Queens alum, 33 – who recently blamed ‘internet culture’ for Madame Web flopping in theaters – opened up about the topic during an interview with Flaunt magazine.
Her father is notably actor Eric Roberts – who is known for starring in projects such as The Dark Knight and Suits – while her aunt is actress Julia Roberts.
‘I’ve lost more jobs than I’ve gained from being in the business,’ the mother-of-one admitted to the outlet. ‘People have opinions and sometimes maybe they’re not good opinions of people in your family.’
‘I’ve never gotten a job because of it, I know I definitely have lost a couple of jobs because of it.’
In December 2022, New York Magazine notably published a cover that contained a number of celebrity’s faces pasted onto babies’ bodies while the publication analyzed Hollywood nepotism.
However, Emma was notably not included on the cover. ‘Should I be offended?’ she jokingly asked Flaunt.
She continued, ‘It was a cheap shot to put all the celebrity kids on the cover of a magazine on babies’ bodies.’
‘It’s like maybe the “Nepo Baby” conversation would’ve been a more interesting article written intelligently in Vanity Fair with nuance, but instead, it was kind of this viral hating-on-people thing.’
Last month in June, Roberts further reflected on nepotism during an appearance on the Table For Two With Bruce Bozzi podcast.
On the episode, the beauty explained that there are, ‘two sides of the coin when it comes to the nepo babies discourse and many are bound to “have preconceived notions of you.”‘
‘People like to say, “Oh, you know, you have a leg up because you’re a family in the industry.” But then the other side to that is, you know, you have to prove yourself more.’
‘Also, if people don’t have good experience being to be with other people in your family, then you’ll never get a chance,’ the American Horror Story actress stated.
She added that ‘everybody loves the kind of overnight success story’ but if ‘you’re not the girl from the middle of nowhere that broke into Hollywood,’ then there is an ‘eye roll of like, “Well, your dad was this.””
‘I always joke I’m like, “Why is no one calling out George Clooney for being a nepo baby?” [His aunt] Rosemary Clooney was an icon. Young girls, I feel like, get it harder with the nepo baby thing.’
Roberts continued, ‘I don’t really see people calling out you know, sons of famous actors. Not that they should be called that. I don’t think anyone should be called out wanting to follow their dreams.’
In 2001, Emma notably made her acting debut in the film titled, Blow, and gained recognition by starring in the Nickelodeon series, Unfabulous, from 2004 through 2007.
She took on roles in other projects such as Nancy Drew (2007), Wild Child (2008), anthology series American Horror Story since 2013 and also Scream Queens (2015-2016).
Earlier this year, she starred in the superhero film, Madame Web, but blamed the internet for Madame Web not being a box office success in theaters and ‘being made into a joke.’
She opened up about her feelings towards the film’s flop during an episode of the Just For Variety podcast.
The star took on the role of Mary Parker in the superhero movie – which also starred Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, Celeste O’Connor, Adam Scott and Tahar Rahim.
However, upon its release, Madame Web received poor reviews and prompted social media users to take to X to label the film as the ‘dumbest movie’ they have ever seen.
Roberts reflected to Variety, ‘If it wasn’t for internet culture and everything being made into a joke, I think that the reception would’ve been different.’
‘And that’s what bums me out about a lot of stuff, even stuff that I’ve done, is people just make such a joke out of everything now.’
She also added, ‘Things work; things don’t work. Everyone likes to act like they can predict if they’re going to work or they’re not.’
‘And the truth is, you can’t. Things do badly, and then they blow up later on TikTok. Things do well, but then you watch them, and you’re like, “This did well?”‘
Emma continued, ‘There is no secret. It’s about doing something goodish and it hitting at the right time. Everything else is like a wish and a prayer.’
However, the actress explained that she is ‘not intimidated by failure, and I’m not intimidated by people having negative thoughts about something.’
The star shared her own opinion on the superhero film and said during the recent podcast episode, ‘I personally really loved Madame Web. I really enjoyed the movie. I thought everyone in it was great.’
‘The director, S.J. Clarkson, I think did an amazing job. She’s the reason I wanted to do that movie.’
Emma also discussed how she deals with negative comments that are geared towards projects that she worked on.
‘But you get these comments that can be rude. So I try not to look at it, because it’s just people want to hate,’ Roberts explained. ‘I feel like I’ve dealt with that since I was 12 years old, so I have a thick skin around it.’
‘But it just does bum me out. We’ve just cultivated now this hate culture towards celebrities and towards movies and television online.’
The mother-of-one stated, ‘Where it used to be like five people reviewed a movie, and now it’s like you have people that won’t even say what their real name is saying how much they hate something.’
‘I’m like, “At least everyone should have to put their driver’s license number into their Instagram account, so you’d probably think twice before you said something rude if we had your driver’s license info.”‘
Madame Web premiered in theaters on February 14 in the United States and raked in $100 million in the box office on a budget of $80 to $100 million.
While also talking to Variety, Emma gushed that her aunt Julia’s movies are her ‘comfort’ watches.
In regards to if the pair will work together on a project, she added, ‘I would love to find the perfect project for me and my aunt, and I know that there will be something. But it’s never been the right thing.’
‘She’s the best, and I want to do something with her. We send each other books and talk about stuff but it hasn’t been right.’
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Source: USA Today
