Emma Roberts Says Women Receive More ‘Nepo Baby’ Criticism Than Men

Emma Roberts has weighed in on the nepo baby debate.

Roberts is the daughter of actor Eric Roberts and the niece of movie icon Julia Roberts.

"There’s two sides of the coin. People like to say, you know, you have a leg up because you have family in the industry. But then the other side to that is, you have to prove yourself more. Also, if people don’t have good experiences with other people in your family, then you’ll never get a chance," she said on the Table for Two podcast, per Variety.

"Everybody loves the kind of overnight-success story. And so if you’re kind of not the girl from the middle of nowhere that broke into Hollywood, there’s kind of an eye roll of like, ‘Well, your dad was this,'" she continued of the nepo baby criticism.

However, she noted that women seem to take more criticism for being a nepo baby than their male counterparts in the industry do.

READ MORE: Emma Roberts Collects Creepy Dolls

"I always joke, 'Why is no one calling out George Clooney for being a nepo baby? [His aunt] Rosemary Clooney was an icon.' I feel like young girls get it harder with the nepo baby thing," Roberts said.

"Like, I don’t really see people calling out sons of famous actors, not that they should be called out," she added.

She also said that people don't see the "rejection along the way" that comes with being a nepo baby and assume that their lives are full of instant success.

"That’s why I’m always very open about things I’ve auditioned for and haven’t gotten the part for," Roberts revealed.

Roberts also shared that although she's been an actor since childhood in films like Nancy Drew and Aquamarine, she was never seeking fame.

"I saw very up close what that really looks like. It’s obviously fun and it’s great, but there is a part of it that’s really scary. So I’ve wanted to kind of carve my own path. … Fame has never been the goal, because fame at a certain level is kind of scary," she explained.

"Even in my later teens, I was like, I never want my fame to outweigh my work," she continued.

She explained that she wanted to make sure fame never overshadowed her acting abilities or hindered the kinds of jobs she could get.

"There’s nothing scarier to me than being so famous that you’re never left alone, but also you’re not getting good jobs. And that was kind of happening to a lot of people when I was in my teens and early 20s. I never wanted that to happen to me," she said.