Top 10 Nepotism Babies Who Still Had a Tough Childhood

This movie star and philanthropist was once Hollywood’s wild child. The daughter of Oscar winner Jon Voight and actress Marcheline Bertrand, yes, but Angelina Jolie’s turbulent early life was marked by her father’s abandonment and her own propensity for risky behaviors. Her relationship with Voight would be rocky for many years, beginning when Voight left his family when Jolie wasn’t even one year old. In the time before her stardom, Jolie struggled with antisocial behaviors, mental health issues, and substance use. The refreshingly honest actress has always been open about her battles, but her youth is proof that being born to fame isn’t necessarily a cushion against hard living.

Being raised by the most famous rock star of the era might sound glamorous. But Lisa Marie Presley was still very young when her parents separated. And her father’s untimely death in 1977, when she was 9 years old, marked a tragic turning point. Yes, Presley eventually followed in her father’s footsteps to become a singer in her own right, but her journey included some shocking abuse. In her posthumous memoir, “From Here to the Great Unknown,” Presley went into detail about the continually and seriously inappropriate behavior of her mother’s boyfriend, the actor and model Michael Edwards; allegations which relate also to some of Edwards’ own disturbing comments about Lisa Marie in his 1988 memoir.

After years of struggling as a single mother, Naomi Judd finally made good in country music. But fame wasn’t always her family’s friend. Naomi had two daughters - Wynonna & Ashley - but the music split the family. Naomi and Wynonna toured the world throughout the 1980s as The Judds, while Ashley was left behind and left out. Ashley Judd spoke in depth about how painful this period was for her in her 2011 memoir, “All That Is Bitter and Sweet”. She would later embark on her acting career, and put her fame and resources behind charities for vulnerable women and children. But the relationships between the three Judd women were always incredibly strained.

Her father was an incredibly famous, all-American movie star. Her mother was a socialite with a tragic past, whose mental health issues saw her hospitalized. Jane Fonda was only 12 years old when her mother took her own life. Although she had resources and received a boarding school education, Fonda struggled with her self image and mental health, from her time at school until well into adulthood. She cites her father, Henry Fonda’s often cold and harsh assessment of her worth as one of the reasons why she fell into some early and damaging patterns. Fortunately, the two were able to make amends later in life.

The daughter of actress Maureen O’Sullivan and director John Farrow, Mia Farrow was one of seven siblings in a household of Hollywood royalty. But her fairytale upbringing ended with a traumatic bout of polio when she was nine years old, which left her in quarantine for nearly a month. A series of further tragedies struck the family in her teenage years. Her illness, her brother’s death in a plane crash, her father’s substance use disorder and subsequent death of a heart attack… they all occurred before she turned 18 years old. Ultimately, it was the financial burden of her father’s death that spurred Mia Farrow on to an acting career of her own.

Despite a wry sense of humor about a childhood that she’d often admit was unconventional, Carrie Fisher perhaps had plenty of reason to look back and ask some questions. Fisher’s parents were the actress Debbie Reynolds and the singer Eddie Fisher. When Carrie was two years old, her parents went through a highly publicized divorce - during the aftermath of which her father remarried to her mother’s best friend, Elizabeth Taylor. Carrie Fisher’s experiences with bipolar disorder began during her childhood and adolescence. She would go on to develop substance use disorder. She always recalled these events with a crisp and gracious wit, with many of her struggles notably covered in her 1987 debut novel “Postcards From the Edge”.

Liza Minnelli’s mother Judy Garland’s story has been held up as a classic cautionary tale for fame, and in many respects a Hollywood tragedy. Overall, Minnelli has always been sure to emphasize the happy times she spent with her mother. But still, it certainly wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Garland’s later career was marked by illness, failed projects, and symptoms of substance use disorder that reportedly began during her time at MGM. She passed away in 1969, when Liza was only 23. Minnelli saw her experience as mostly normal because she only had other Hollywood families to compare it to, but her chaotic upbringing perhaps contributed in part to her own problems later in life - including with alcohol and substance use disorders.

As the son of the countercultural filmmaker Robert Downey Sr., the “Iron Man” actor was perhaps always destined to have a less than conventional childhood - and it had a lasting impact. Robert Downey Jr. grew up fast, and not just because his father introduced him to acting at the age of five. In fact, it was also his father who introduced him to illicit substances. Years later, RDJ would explain that this was his father’s way of bonding with him. But such early exposure led to a substance use disorder that plagued Downey Jr. throughout his early career before he made the decision to get sober in 2003.

Winning an Oscar for your film debut is an incredible feat. Doing that and becoming the youngest actor to ever win the award is doubly impressive. Tatum O’Neal certainly inherited her parents’ talent for performing… but, unfortunately, her relationship with both her mother and father was fraught. Tatum’s mother - the actress Joanna Moore - lost custody of her and her brother, Griffin, in 1971, following a series of incidents relating to alcohol use disorder. Her father - the actor Ryan O’Neal - had issues all his own. The two co-starred together in “Paper Moon,” but things deteriorated not long after. Ryan O’Neal’s well-documented volatility led to a rift that saw the pair not speaking for the better part of three decades.

The Barrymore Family ruled Broadway before expanding their acting empire to Hollywood. A dynasty that dates back to the 19th century, it meant that Drew Barrymore was only the latest in a long line of brilliant actors when she first emerged as a child star. Trouble started very early. Mostly left to her own devices by her mother, Barrymore’s hard-partying lifestyle at an incredibly young age meant that was only 13 when she completed her first stint in a rehabilitation center. At one point, she attempted to take her own life. It would take a few years and a legal emancipation from her mother for Barrymore to set things right. Decades later, her honesty and forthrightness about that time in her life is a reminder of just how much she’s overcome.


Whose childhood story shocked you the most? Let us know in the comments.