The Return of Mama Rose

Rich and famous parents have long shielded their offspring from the spotlight. These days, a new breed is expertly navigating them through the glare.

- BY ANDREW ZUCKER

When Hilaria Baldwin launched a new podcast, Growing Up Together, late last year, she didn't want to do it alone. So the former yoga instructor picked a co-host she knew intimately: her 12-year-old daughter, Carmen.

The choice to tap her child as a co-host wasn't a huge surprise. The once hidden hand pushing the scions of Hollywood dynasties into the limelight has ceased being hidden and is gleefully operating in plain sight. And it is often the hand of the parents themselves.

Recently, Apple Martin wore one of her mom Gwyneth Paltrow's vintage dresses to the Marty Supreme premiere; Beyoncé brought daughter Blue Ivy onstage to dance during her Cowboy Carter tour; Gabrielle Union celebrated her teenage stepdaughter Zaya's modeling gigs on Instagram; Heidi Klum joined her daughter in ads for Intimissimi; Nicole Kidman teamed up with her then-14-year-old daughter to promote a Japanese beauty brand; and Sofia Coppola brought her daughters Romy and Cosima to Paris Fashion Week.

Today, it seems, parental FOMO trumps concerns about privacy. “Previously, it was taboo to be a celebrity’s kid because of nepotism. But now they're reclaiming the spotlight,” says Jared Eng, who runs the celebrity news site Just Jared. “The smart parents are encouraging their kids to do that.”

Throughout the 2000s Us Weekly era, A-listers railed against paparazzi for snapping pictures of their offspring. Stars like Halle Berry and Jennifer Garner pleaded with California government officials to punish shutterbugs who invaded their children’s privacy, and they won. But those cries have dwindled as paparazzi culture has faded. Instagram is the new “Stars—They’re Just Like Us!” page, and celebrities are filling that space by taking more active roles in their kids' careers. The business opportunities of the current nepo economy, it seems, are impossible to resist.