Gone are the days of the power couple from the lexicon of social media stans. Enter the era of the nepo boyfriend.
Move over nepo babies—a new nepo phenomenon is taking over pop culture. Although the fascination, discourse, and near-witch hunt surrounding the nepo baby term has rocked celebrity culture in the last few years, it seems a new “nepo” term is on the rise. The original nepo term, “nepo baby,” refers to a child of a celebrity or high-profile figure who benefits from a parent’s status, connections, and resources, and after the Internet began labeling celebrities as nepo babies, typically in a derogatory sense, several stars spoke out about the moniker.
In a 2022 interview with Elle, Lily-Rose Depp, daughter of actor Johnny Depp and model Vanessa Paradis, said: “People are going to have preconceived ideas about you or how you got there, and I can definitely say that nothing is going to get you the part except for being right for the part. The internet cares a lot more about who your family is than the people who are casting you in things. Maybe you get your foot in the door, but you still just have your foot in the door. There’s a lot of work that comes after that.”
Inversely, Hailey Bieber, née Baldwin, daughter of actor and producer Stephen Baldwin and graphic designer Kennya Baldwin, made her own statement with a simple graphic tee emblazoned with the words “nepo baby” loud and proud—after all, if you can’t escape the label, why not embrace it?
These days, attention has shifted away from the tired nepo baby discourse towards a new subject—the partners of our favorite ultra-successful stars. While many of the “nepo boyfriends” currently trending in pop culture are actors, athletes, business moguls, and artists of their own merit, Internet users have noticed that many of today’s leading ladies, popstars, and models are taking the lead in when it comes to icon status, and by association, their partners are getting their own boost in popularity.
From red carpet clips of celebrated actresses with boyfriends trailing behind them to announcements of new projects featuring famous boyfriends, social media users have taken the “nepo boyfriend” term and run with it.
After several new Travis Kelce project announcements have reached the front pages of Twitter and Tiktok, the discourse surrounding the nepo boyfriend term is ablaze once again, as fans and critics alike of the “Cruel Summer” singer have accused the 3-time Super Bowl winner of benefitting from his relationship to the pop superstar.
We’ll be first in line to say that labeling the Travis Kelces, Matty Healys, Jonathan Owens, Barry Keoghans, and Austin Butlers of the world—all of whom are incredibly accomplished, award-winning figures in their respective fields—as “nepo boyfriends” seems silly, but when it comes to the Internet and stan culture, common sense often goes out the window in favor of the shock factor that comes with labels like this one.
