Judd Apatow's Daughters Grew Up To Be Gorgeous

With parents as cool as comedy heavyweights Judd Apatow (director, writer, and producer) and Leslie Mann (actress and Apatow's frequent muse), it stands to reason Maude and Iris Apatow would turn out to be the coolest kids on the block. But growing up in front of the camera, particularly in movies based on their family's actual home life, comes with as many drawbacks as perks. Just because it happens in Hollywood doesn't make it a fantasy life.

Still, as celebrity kids go, the sisters, who are five years apart in age, turned out remarkably grounded and even *whisper it* normal. They're hardly on the road to ruin, their paths marked by drug addiction and infamy. These two are unlikely to even be spotted falling out of nightclubs — instead, they're focusing on making names for themselves in their own right and working hard to achieve their goals. Unsurprisingly, though, given those great genes (okay, fine, it's more Leslie than Judd — sorry, Judd) they grew up to be completely stunning. 

They might have fame and fortune but, in a 2017 interview with Variety, Apatow made it clear his family is totally normal. "I feel like my life is basically the same as everybody else's. We all have a family that we're trying to make function. All the issues that our kids have at each stage are the same. And the fact that Knocked Up did well does not make anything easier when it comes to your kids and trying to make your family work," he argued, referring to the hit 2007 movie starring Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogen.

Even so, at least one kid was technically marked out for stardom right from birth. As Mann explained to Interview in 2012, she chose her eldest daughter's name very deliberately. "My favorite movie of all time is Harold and Maude," she said, noting that's where Maude's name comes from, as, "Ruth Gordon, she's funny... I literally watched that every weekend for years when I was in high school. That kind of tone is what I like." 

2012's This Is 40 was basically the Apatow family life put on screen, with Paul Rudd as the father stand-in. In an interview that same year on Conan O'Brien's Serious Jibber Jabber podcast, Apatow discussed how he gets his daughters to act naturally on camera. "They're not scared that cameras are around. They get sucked into what their real problems are with each other. Like, they're so annoyed with each other that they're not distracted by the fact that they're shooting a movie and it needs to go well, they're more concerned about whatever argument I'm trying to make them have on camera," the director explained.

In a sprawling interview with The New York Times that same year, Apatow admitted he'd been badgering Mann for years to make a movie out of their life experiences. "All sorts of crazy, hilarious, terrifying things were happening. I would say 'you think we should make a movie about this?' And I would pray she would say yes," he admitted. The couple isn't worried about people taking things too literally, however, as Apatow explained, audiences "never walk out of the movie and think it's about us. They always think it's about them." 

Funnily enough, around the same time she finally had free reign on the internet, Maude was becoming a bonafide online sensation in her own right. As she told The New York Times in a 2012 interview, at just 14 years old she had over 60,000 Twitter followers and tons of strangers telling her how much they related to whatever she was sharing at any one time. "It's just weird, because I don't know most people who tweet me, so it's kind of scary. But it's nice," she admitted.

The young teen was then on the cusp of starting high school and terrified about what was to come, but her parents still vetted her tweets and checked her grammar from time to time. Maude also noted she and her father often argued about Twitter, admitting, "It could not be more unhealthy." Her impressive social media presence attracted the attention of HelloGiggles and Teen Vogue, both of whom commissioned the youngster to write pieces for them. Apatow remained her biggest supporter, noting at the time, "I just hope that ultimately what she writes is longer than 140 characters."

As hinted by both her parents over the years, Maude Apatow had a fairly standard time of it as a teenager. In a lengthy 2018 interview with Bustle, the aspiring actress explained how her parents didn't allow her to do any movies without them until she turned 18. Rather than holding her back, this actually prepared the young Apatow to branch out when the time came. "It was really nice to be able to get to do my first movies with [my parents], because they taught me so much and being around them, it was so comfortable. Because I'd done those movies... I felt prepared and ready to do [my own]," she explained.

As for what kind of teenager she was, Apatow revealed that most of her time was spent as an "emotional wreck," staying in all the time crying her eyes out. This prepared her for the role of rebellious teen Meredith in The House of Tomorrow. "I was just so emotional and hormonal, and you get angry because you just don't know what to do with your emotions," she said, echoing what Mann told The Independent just a few years previous.  

The Apatow girls might think their Dad is lame but they, like the rest of us, are totally obsessed with Mama Mann. Thankfully, the feeling is mutual. Appearing on Live with Kelly and Ryan in 2018, Mann said of Maude, "I love her. She's my favorite person in the world and I'm hers. I think. And why not be with the people you love the most and you like the most? Like we really like each other." 

Iris and Maude frequently show up on set to support Mann even when they're not working, as well as appearing in Jergens commercials together, taking vacations, dressing up, and naturally all the sweet throwbacks the girls share. They walk red carpets together (always looking fierce, of course) and even go to gigs too, proving once and for all Mann is not a regular mom — she's a cool mom. The bond between mother and daughters is so strong, in fact, that, in 2018, Maude and Mann did a super-sweet Mother's Day gift guide for People together, sharing all their top picks for the most important holiday of the year. 

Just as Iris was stepping into the spotlight, pundits began to notice something else — she was turning into her gorgeous mother in front of our very eyes. In 2017, The Huffington Post hilariously dedicated a news piece to breathlessly showcasing how much Iris looked like her mother. To be fair, they're not wrong. Further proof of their twinning can be found on Iris's stunning Instagram page, which is loaded with shots of her looking decidedly Mann-esque.

Even though she definitely resembles her mother, the younger Apatow is also becoming a beauty star in her own right, as noted by Fashion magazine in another similarly gushing post about how stunning the young woman is. In particular, Iris' purposefully unconventional beauty tutorial was heralded as a powerfully normal statement for a Hollywood kid. Iris herself advised that she's not "a professional makeup artist, this is just what I put on day to day," further solidifying her refreshingly laid-back attitude. 

With two super-talented parents' experience to draw from, it makes sense that eldest daughter Maude Apatow would look to them for inspiration when venturing into the Hollywood machine herself. In a 2018 interview on the Hollywood Life podcast (via the site's write-up), Maude gushed about how much she loved her folks' work, noting, "I think it's an amazing thing that my dad can help people through hard times, and take their mind off of tough things, at least."

She credited her parents' strong work ethic, which they instilled in her and younger sister Iris, for their longevity in their chosen industry. "I've seen my whole life how hard they work and that's what I've always wanted to be. Because I know how hard it is and hard work pays off," advised the young actress. Likewise, working with her parents on films like Knocked Up and This Is 40 forced her to work even harder to impress, as Maude advised, "I always just wanted to do a good job because I care about what my parents think the most."