Jack Quaid Agrees He’s a Nepo Baby: I’m ‘Immensely Privileged’

Jack Quaid doesn’t shy away from being called a “nepo baby.”

“No matter what I do, people will draw attention to it. People call me a ‘fake baby’. I tend to agree,” said the 32-year-old “The Boys” star, whose parents are Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan. “I’m an extremely privileged person and was able to get representation quite early on, and that’s more than half the battle.”

Quaid was asked The Daily Beast’s “The Last Laugh” podcast if he consciously tried to avoid romantic comedies to avoid comparisons to his mother, whose credits include some of the best films in the genre, from “When Harry Met Sally” to “You’ve Got Mail.”

“It was a bit of a conscious decision not to do it so often. It just has to be right, because you know, my mother is the undisputed queen of rom-coms. So I can’t just step into that space, it has to be right,” says Quaid, who starred opposite Maya Erskine in the critically acclaimed 2019 rom-com “Plus One.”

‘So I can’t just enter that space, it has to be right. It has to be something that feels different than what she has done,” Quaid added. “I’m not looking to take her place or anything.”

Speaking of Ryan, the ‘Sleepless in Seattle’ star recently defended her son against being called a ‘fake baby’ in a Glamor magazine profile. “Jack is really talented. He’s more of a natural than I’ll ever be,” Ryan said. “That nepo thing is so dismissive of his work ethic, his gifts and how sensitive he is to the idea of ​​his privilege.”

Quaid responded to her comments in the interview with The Daily Beast by saying, “She is a loving mother. But I don’t think she’s trying to say I’m not a fake baby.

He continued, “I think she’s just trying to say that in her opinion it undermines my talent. I don’t think it undermines my talent. I know I work hard, and I know I’ve heard “no” more times than I’ve heard “yes.” But I also know that this industry is incredibly difficult to break into, and I found it easier to do so than most. Both things can be true. So no, I don’t think she was trying to say I’m not a privileged person. She knows. She has to know. I think she was a mother.”

The concept of the ‘nepo baby’ took the internet by storm in 2022, thanks in part New York magazine cover story that offered a “definitive guideline” to Hollywood’s most privileged offspring. Some famous children of celebrities have taken issue with the term (such as Jamie Lee Curtis, who wrote that “The current conversation about nepo babies is only to try to belittle and denigrate and hurt”), while others, like “Girls” star Allison Williams, have embraced it.

“All people are looking for is recognition that there is not a level playing field. It’s just unfair. Period, end of story, and no one really works that hard to make it fair,’ Williams said, the daughter of NBC news anchor Brian Williams. “To not acknowledge that I’m working as an actress versus someone with no connections is not the same – it’s ridiculous.”