The highs and lows of growing up in the spotlight
• Having a famous parent may mean lots of privilege and comfort, but it can also involve time apart
As an outsider, it’s natural to assume that every child of successful and well-known public figures is assured of a life that is soft, full of perks and ease that come as a result of having a famous person as a parent.
To us normal folk, there may be the preconceived idea that these children naturally receive opportunities purely based on their parents’ position in life — from private school, to the best universities, to careers oddly close to those of the generation that precedes them. Nepotism is often the name of the game.
We all know of big Hollywood stars who’ve had children follow in their footsteps and receive opportunities that are directly linked to their parents’ connections. There’s Kate Hudson, the daughter of actress Goldie Hawn and actor Bill Hudson, whom you might recognise in early 2000s romcoms like How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.
Then there’s all four of Denzel Washington’s children; Katia, who decided to choose a career in film production; and Malcolm, Olivia and John David, who were bitten by the acting bug.
Nepo babies, as they are colloquially called, are often scrutinised more critically for the work they do, especially if it’s a line of work that puts them in the public eye. They can be at risk of constant comparison between themselves and their famous parent(s) or they may even feel that their talent is overlooked due to questions about how they got the gig instead of why they got it.
Sam Kentridge, 31, is an artist, just like his dad William Kentridge, one of the most internationally recognised artists SA has produced. He says that one of the toughest things to navigate is comparison between him and his famous father.
PROJECTION
“It was hard to feel that you had to live up to this expectation or that people weren’t seeing you, they were seeing the projection of your parent in you or this feeling of comparison, especially after making art full time, there’s always a sense of, ‘oh, my dad would sell out every show so if I haven’t sold out, does that mean I’m not successful?’ Or that suspicion of, ‘do people really like my art or is it just because of my dad?’”
Kentridge acknowledges that it’s inevitable that his name will always be a part of why the public takes interest in his work.
“It is part of my life as an artist, especially being an artist in Johannesburg. So I’ve had to try to reorientate my idea of what success is because [whether I am] selling or not selling and people [like] my work or not ... I’m never going to know for certain if it’s me or if it’s the legacy of my dad that people are drawn to. It’s more about: do I enjoy making the pieces, am I making pieces that are meaningful to me, am I creating good relationships with other artists and people that I’m exhibiting with that are meaningful? The question is always going to be there, so I’d rather focus on the process and the other stuff in my life.”
Boikarabelo Bosman, 31, is the daughter of the late awardwinning jazz vocalist, Gloria Bosman. Bosman has taken a completely different path to her mother and faces different challenges as a result.
“I am not really looking to be involved in that industry, I went in an opposite direction as I work in the pharmaceutical business. It’s only now with my mother’s passing that I’ve had to handle her affairs and [get] involved in the entertainment industry and business. I have gained exposure to many facets I never imagined I would, and there has been a lot of learning as I’m running my mother’s legacy, Bosman Music Pty Ltd.”
Another nepo baby hot topic is how famous parents parent their children. Towards the end of 2023, the Daily Mail reported that Robbie Williams and his wife, Ayda Field, had said that their children fly economy while the couple lux out in first class. Gordon Ramsay is another tough parent and has told The Telegraph that his six children haven’t worked hard enough to get a seat in first class on a plane, adding that the experience is so much more enjoyable when you know you’ve worked for it.
Tshepi Vundla, the wellknown SA mother of two, agrees that the idea of working hard to reach goals is something that she and her husband focus on instilling in their children.
“We push that hard work pays off and that you won’t always get what you want in life. We want to raise normal children who do normal child stuff. We have an open-door policy where everyone in our household can be open and communicate about anything and we figure it out as a family. We communicate and set boundaries. When it comes to gifts and fancy items, you only get something when you’ve worked hard for it.”
ORGANIC
Vundla has been in the public eye for more than a decade as a digital entrepreneur. She has gained a huge following of 370,000 on Instagram and her journey to where she is today has been what she calls organic.
“It started out naturally [with] me posting my day-to-day life, my outfits, makeup, hair and where I was out and about. Not knowing this is a real thing, brands saw the engagement from my followers and how people wanted to know what I was up to and where I got my items from. My first big gig was with Woolworths. To this day, I still create content for some of the biggest brands in SA and some campaigns include my beautiful children.”
With that comes another tricky element to navigate, which is children being in the public eye alongside their prominent parents. Vundla says the attention that her eldest child, Sibabalwe, 6, gets as a result of his campaigns, is something they have learnt to navigate. “We’ve had a few moments, especially at the start of a new year at a new school and when they find Siba’s campaigns online, but I can assure you the attention quickly dies out and the children and parents get used to it; it’s back to regular programming.”
Vundla says that creating a normal home environment is paramount. “We don’t allow ‘fame’ to affect how we’re raising our children. [Sibabalwe] has noticed some perks but we do enforce that working hard gets us some of the things we experience as a family.”
From a child’s perspective, Bosman feels that her mother, Gloria, was able to adequately balance the limelight that was cast on her because of her career and parenting.
“My mother was prominent but very reserved and not too into the social scene. She was doing what she loved but keeping it to herself. This allowed her to be an engaged parent. Other than missing a few things due to work and performances, she was involved in my life not just as a parent but a best friend. She involved me in her world as well, if it meant we would spend more time together.”
She says that she is who she is because of her mother and her career, not despite it. “Her life involved a lot of moving and change and I just learnt from a young age that if there was one thing in life that was constant it was change.”
For Kentridge, he says having a parent in the limelight had pros and cons in his upbringing.
“I feel there are two possible outcomes for having a famous parent. The one is that you become this egoist who is full of themselves and entitled, or you’re so afraid of that that you squash it down and try to make yourself as small as possible. I think it’s hard to find a balance.”
TIME AWAY
The artist adds that while his parents tried to give him and his sisters a normal childhood, especially in terms of expectations and how to relate to others, his dad’s work engagements could sometimes mean time away from home. “The demands of that spotlight does just mean that there’s lots of time away from your children, which I think is hard. There are all these people clamouring for your parent’s attention so you do get less of it — even if you’re not actually getting less ... you feel you are.”
It seems that for these parents and children in the limelight — fame isn’t everything. For Kentridge, there is far more to life than being well-known.
“If I didn’t have to have Instagram or display things in public, I’d really prefer not to. I want to be known for the meals that I make or the hugs that I give or the soccer that I play or whatever ... those kinds of things. I think I get most of my validation not from my work but making people laugh at dinner parties.”
Perhaps we’re more alike than we realise.
IT WAS HARD TO FEEL THAT YOU HAD TO LIVE UP TO THIS EXPECTATION OR THAT PEOPLE WEREN’T SEEING YOU
Sam Kentridge
Artist
WHEN IT COMES TO GIFTS AND FANCY ITEMS, YOU ONLY GET SOMETHING WHEN YOU’VE WORKED HARD FOR IT Tshepi Vundla Digital entrepreneur