Catherine Zeta-Jones has doubled down on her claim that calling her two children with Michael Douglas nepo-babies is "horrific."
The 56-year-old Oscar winner insisted that Dylan, 26, and Carys, 23, have had no more advantage from having Hollywood stars as parents than kids who follow their parents into other fields.
"If it was any other industry, whether it be finance or business, or if you're a lawyer, or I know all my grown-up surgeon doctor friends have kids going into that industry, and they don't get labelled," she said on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour.
"I think, more importantly, I'm married to the ultimate nepo baby. My husband was the son of Kirk Douglas, the son of Spartacus, you know? And he's done pretty good on his own," she continued.
Catherine admitted that her children are already under "intense scrutiny," so calling them nepo-babies too is "very unfortunate."
© Instagram"And so I think it's unfortunate that with the intense scrutiny young people have, not just my kids or celebrity kids, just generally, they get slaughtered by AI images of perfection, or this and that. They don't need another tag, I think it's very unfortunate," she added.
When host Nuala McGovern challenged Catherine, pointing out that many people think celebrity children have more advantages than other actors, she exclaimed: "No, no, no quite opposite.
"First of all, they have so much to prove. That 'Oh! It's in your genes, it's in your blood.' It's like 'No, actually I have a true passion and love of the craft.'"
© Getty ImagesIn a recent interview with The Times, Catherine admitted that if she and Michael didn't believe in their kids' talents, they would encourage them to pursue other careers.
"Michael and I would be the first to go, 'You know what? Maybe law school looks really good,'" she said, adding that they are both "plugging away" at acting.
© InstagramDuring a previous interview on Today, Catherine said of Dylan and Carys' acting aspirations: "We've seen how passionate they are about the craft. They know what celebritydom is. They know the good, the bad, warts and all that.
"But their passion is about acting as a craft and they've done every theatre camp – my kids went off to summer camp every year, to theatre camp with the Broadway kids, and held their own very, very well, I have to say."
Michael previously addressed the nepo-baby label, saying in 2024: "I don't know a father in whatever business, be it a plumber or a contractor or a carpenter, who doesn't try to help his son join him."
© WireImageThe Oscar winner speaks from experience, as he is the son of the late Hollywood icon Kirk Douglas, who helped Michael with his, big break after gifting him the rights to the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
Michael went on to produce the movie, earning him his first Oscar for Best Picture at the 1976 Academy Awards.
"It hadn't been going anywhere. I'm sure there's a part of him thinking it'll be a good learning experience for the kid, right?" Michael said.
