Children of Celebrities (1 Viewer)

[Mark Romero]

I was watching a biography of JFK, Jr. today and they talked about his political aspirations after having been at the Democratic National Convention back in 1988. To put a long story short, why is it that people (the media) automatically assume someone is going to go into politics, or acting, or be a professional athlete simply because one or both of their parents are/were and that they would actually do a good job at it? As far as athletes go, does anybody believe Michael Jordan's kids would be NBA superstars or even in the league just because Dad was? For every Barry Bonds (dad Bobby Bonds) or Ken Griffey, Jr. (dad Ken Griffey) there is a thousand Pete Rose, Jrs.

Hold the George W. Bush jokes please.

 

[Bruce Hedtke]

Most of it comes from exposure. The kids are exposed to the lifestyle of their dads, so usually, that's pretty much all they know. To them, it's normal to have a dad who makes millions of dollars to play professional sports or to have a dad who runs for elections and has an office in Washington. That doesn't mean the kids will automatically follow in their father/mothers footsteps, but it does mean that they haven't been exposed to what most of us have to go through. They don't know what it means to not be able to afford things. They don't know what it means to not fly around the country, to hang around celebrities...to be given so many priviledges. So, I guess to our way of thinking, why wouldn't they try to emulate their dads? It seems like the fantasy life.

Bruce

 

[Mark Romero]

I agree. But what would make them qualified for such a position? Like JFK, Jr. Why would he have been qualified for office? True, he was an attorney for a few seconds. I also saw Larry King I think interview Caroline Kennedy and he asked her when she was going to run. Next up is Chelsea Clinton and maybe it's not too late for Amy Carter.

 

[Vincent Matis]

It happened before in the Kennedy family (JFK's father (Joseph) was the US ambassador to the UK before WWII, but had to resign because of his anti-interventionnist ideas). Furthermore, two of his brother were heavily involved in politics... So it would not have been too improbable that "Jr." would eventually choose this career path too...

Vincent

 

[TheoGB]

Politics is a lot about personality, don't forget. And notoriety. People, given the choice between and unknown and the person they know will almost certainly vote for the latter, assuming their policies aren't grossly outrageous.

So, a Kennedy has the famous name and the look. Elections are by and large decided by the 'floating voters' - seeing his name there they are more likely to float that way, I'd have thought.

With actors, well with the media (i.e. music as well) there's who you know and your talent. Talent usually runs in a family: if your parents are both singers you are probably a singer also. If your parents made it big then they also know people so you can get the exposure to get the jobs you want. Nepotism is a thriving industry.