When it comes to calling out nepo culture, Rocco Ritchie isn’t pulling any punches — even if he technically fits the label himself.
The 24-year-old artist, son of pop legend Madonna and filmmaker Guy Ritchie, got candid in a new interview with Fantastic Man, where he brutally critiqued the current wave of celebrity offspring flooding creative industries.
Drawing a bold comparison, Ritchie mused:
“Back in the day, some of the most beautiful cathedrals that were ever built would be built by generation after generation of the same family. And now, if you are born from a family — and I’m not saying this is wrong — you start looking at nepo babies and they are not the most interesting bunch, are they?”
Ouch.
Rather than running with the glamorous high-society crowd he grew up around, Ritchie revealed he actively sought out more grounded friendships, preferring the company of skateboarders over trust-fund babies and aristocrats.
“Straight away, I was like, this is the place. Best years of my life. I mean, how much fun are upper-class people? Not that much fun.”
While the nepo baby discourse has been simmering in the background for a few years now, it’s rare for someone with Ritchie’s pedigree — his paternal grandparents married into British nobility, after all — to speak so bluntly.
In a world obsessed with celebrity lineage, Rocco Ritchie’s refreshing honesty cuts through the noise. Whether you agree with him or not, he’s proving that self-awareness might just be the rarest inheritance of all.
