The term ‘nepo baby’ has been bandied about a lot over the past few years.
Disgruntled discussions have subsequently followed from people expressing their annoyance about those who are born into privilege – particularly with famous parents – who might use their well-known relative to get a leg-up in their own careers.
Derived from the word ‘nepotism’, famous so-called ‘nepo babies’ include the likes of Hailey Bieber, Brooklyn Beckham, Zoe Kravitz, Jack Quaid, Maude Apatow, Gwyneth Paltrow, Lily Allen and many more.
So what happens when one of these nepo babies decides to test how society treats someone differently if they were born with a famous connection? That’s what Mel B’s daughter Phoenix Brown – who Metro chatted to with recently – wanted to find out in her brand new documentary.
Phoenix is the daughter of Melanie Brown, otherwise known as Spice Girls legend Scary Spice, and Dutch dancer Jimmy Gulzar.
The 25-year-old performs as a DJ, having played her first festival earlier this year shortly after appearing on Celebrity Gogglebox with her mum.
In a new venture, Phoenix recently decided to front her own documentary for Channel 4, titled Born in the Limelight – Nepo Babies: UNTOLD.
Not only did this programme include her exploring what it means to be a nepo baby from her own personal experience and from speaking to others, but it also involved a bit of deception… as Phoenix put on an art show under the guise of becoming a serious artist.
‘The word “nepo baby”, it’s such a big word to just have such a small definition for. So we wanted to make it about nepo babies and celebrities, but we also want to tie it into a bigger picture,’ Phoenix said, explaining how they wanted to highlight ‘inequality in the arts world and in other aspects of the world’.
‘So it gave people some room to have a question in their head and not judge straight away, like we usually do when we hear the word nepo baby.’
As the daughter of a globally famous popstar, Phoenix has experienced her fair share of attention on the internet, sometimes from people who don’t have kind things to say.
While she hopes that this documentary results in viewers not judging nepo babies as fast as they might have done instinctively, she admitted that she does understand why people might not like her when they find out that she has a famous parent.
‘I’ve never really related to the word “nepo baby” in the sense of when they call me that in the press,’ she shared.
‘When we did more of a deep dive on the word nepotism and how it bleeds into everyone’s lives one way or another in certain aspects, I was like, “Yeah, I do get why people don’t like me”, or if they would hear about me, they’re like, “Oh, she didn’t work for anything.” I would see the point of view. I feel like that was the point of the documentary.’
From the get-go in the film, Phoenix is very open about the fact that her mum being Mel B would have opened doors for her in her career.
This is also apparent later on in the programme when she’s able to sell paintings for significant amounts of money at an art show despite having no prior art experience, whereas an artist who she meets up with – Betty Ogun – receives no responses whatsoever when she reaches out to industry professionals, even though she went to a prestigious art school.
Earlier on in the programme, Phoenix has a chat with mum Mel, 49, about being a nepo baby and their differing views on the topic.
Mel appears adamant in her belief that her own fame didn’t help boost her daughter’s career, as she always encouraged Phoenix to go out and earn her own money, rather than using name-dropping to help her out.
However, Phoenix has revealed that her mum’s opinion on the topic has since changed, acknowledging that being the daughter of a Spice Girl will come with an inevitable advantage.
‘When we talked in my kitchen, she was very against the word. So after she was like, “Oh, I didn’t really know in depth how deep-dive you were going into the word in general, not just about celebrities,”’ Phoenix recalled.
‘She was like, “Wow, I get it. You did a very good job. You opened my eyes and gave me a question.” So that was really nice to hear from her.’
While Phoenix appears very at ease in front of the camera, she admitted that there were points during the making of the programme where she hesitated about being the centre of attention.
‘Every time we would be done filming a couple segments I would be like, “Okay, do we really want to do this guys? Are we 100%?” Because I’m just so cautious. I never want to offend anybody. I never want to step on people’s toes just because, I never want that to be the look that I go for,’ she stated.
‘I just wanted to make sure that we did it in the most delicate, but also “haha” type of way. So I feel like we did equal on both sides.’
Speaking of those “haha” moments, Phoenix’s mission to make people believe that she was embarking on a serious art career was in full-swing earlier this year, when she put on her exhibition titled ‘Emosh’.
Before the big reveal that the paintings and the show were part of an elaborate nepo baby experiment, she wrote on Instagram: ‘My debut show EMOSH will be launching next week at Sarah Kravitz gallery. DM me for more details . Pretty proud of this work.🎨🖌️🖼️.’
Before the exhibition, an art valuer came around to her studio, inspecting the artworks with a magnifying glass before ascertaining how much she thought they were worth – admitting to the artist that being Mel B’s daughter would up the price that buyers would be willing to pay.
Members of the press interviewed Phoenix about her artistic endeavour, before a crowd of people came to the exhibition opening, with celebrities including Joey Essex raving about her artistic skills.
So how did people react when they found out that they’d been tricked?
‘At the end of the day, I feel like everyone made sense of it in their own way. When they found out, it wasn’t like, “Oh, we fell for it.” I feel it was like, “Oh, she’s trying to prove a point on something that actually matters in the world,”’ Phoenix said.
An art evaluator came around to Phoenix’s studio to assess her works (Picture: Flicker Productions)
‘There’s so much inequality, there’s so much nepotism in schools and all this stuff. So it’s hard to be mad.
‘I feel like people just gave their congrats and gave their bravo, and was like, “It was a good topic to speak about.” I don’t really feel like anyone was necessarily offended or hurt by the prank.’
In addition to hoping that viewers act in a less judgemental way towards nepo babies, Phoenix also emphasised her belief that people who are born into privilege shouldn’t be afraid to acknowledge that they had an advantage.
‘It’s kind of ridiculous to be ashamed. This person brought you into this world. They literally conquered and did what they had to do in order to make sure that you have a great life. How am I going to be ashamed of that?’ she stated.
‘If anything, I’m going to be proud and I’m going to scream from the rooftop, but I’m also going to realise where I came from, and I’m going to realise that if they didn’t have me, I probably would have a very different life.’
Phoenix continued: ‘I can’t just go around being like, “I worked for it. I did this.” I probably did but I also have to realise that I probably didn’t have to work as hard, or there was some type of gap, or I got an extra door, or something.
‘Respecting that and owning that, there’s no shame in that, because if someone opens a door for you, they can open the door, but it’s up to you to stay in that door.
‘I feel like everyone does have that chance, but to get in that door, not everyone has that door. If you just own it and say, “Yeah, I come from where I come from. I respect it, but I’m still gonna work on what I love, and I’m gonna be great at it no matter what”, no one can be mad at that.’
Born in the Limelight – Nepo Babies: UNTOLD is available to watch on Channel 4.
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