Intro for July 31, 2026

Dear Gossips,

The Shards, a Ryan Murphy-produced adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’s novel of the same name, is coming to the FX/Hulu/Disney+ conglomerate next week. Lainey wrote about it here, it’s notable in part because the series stars Kaia Gerber and Homer Gere, the children of Cindy Crawford and Richard Gere, who used to be married. Ryan Murphy loves a nepo baby, and he loves messy gossip, and The Shards casting is the confluence of his passions.

I’ve been thinking about nepo babies recently, as it was revealed that Suri Noelle (formerly Cruise), is starring in a production of Midsummer!, a modern adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which will be performed in Pittsburgh before heading to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Suri is a student at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, and she is said to be studying musical theater. Carnegie Mellon’s School of Drama is highly regarded, and counts Ted Danson, Matt Bomer, Holly Hunter, Zachary Quinto, Judith Light, and Sarah Pidgeon among its alumni. On the musical theater side, the school graduated Sutton Foster, Megan Hilty, Renee Elise Goldsberry, and Billy Porter, so Suri is following in some big footsteps.

It also seems inevitable she’ll come for Hollywood eventually. As is her birthright, I guess. We’ve been drowning in nepo babies so long I think we’re inured to it at this point, but I have been thinking, specifically, about how much worse the issue will get as the Zoomer wave of nepo babies continues rolling out. Kaia Gerber is one, for instance, as is Suri, and Shiloh Jolie, who appeared in Daeyoung’s music video for “What’s a girl to do”.

I maintain that if nepo babies prove to have the goods, no one really begrudges them work. Maya Hawke and Cooper Hoffman don’t draw a lot of ire, but they’re very obviously talented actors. If Suri turns out to be talented, I don’t think we’ll be much bothered by her inevitable acting career. But the nepo baby phenomenon has never really been about specific individuals, it’s just the most obvious symptom of a deeper problem in Hollywood, and the entertainment industry at large—it is virtually impossible to make it in a creative career unless you have connected and/or wealthy parents.

We don’t even really notice it anymore, nepo babies are everywhere, in everything, an undeniable part of the entertainment ecosystem. There have always been children of famous people in entertainment—Drew Barrymore is part of an acting dynasty that goes back to vaudeville—but there used to be a better balance between people born with connections and self-made stars. Now, we have nepo babies who are notable because their parents were self-made, like Katie Holmes, who got her start at a modeling school in Toledo, Ohio. Now, we have so many nepo babies that we can do nepo baby stunt casting. I don’t begrudge these kids work, but maybe we really need to do something about the economic barriers to entry around creative industry.

Anyway, here’s Katie Holmes in New York. I rarely like her style, but you just cannot go wrong with a button down, jeans, and a big bag. Just ignore the shoes, I am.

Live long and gossip,

Sarah