4 Celeb Sons And Daughters Whose Own Attempts At Fame Never Quite Took Off

You might assume that having famous parents means you hit the jackpot. After all, you're already well known by the public from the moment you're born. But being known and being famous are two very different things. We've seen it time and again; celebrity kids take their own shot at fame, only to crash and burn — or simply fail to live up to their parents' fans' expectations. In many ways, it might be harder to rise to fame because your parents are insanely well-known, since you'll always find yourself living in their shadow, unless you somehow find a way out from under it. 

Some have been more successful at this feat than others. For instance, Miley Cyrus shot to fame on Disney's "Hannah Montana" in the early '00s. She managed to carve her own path and became known as being more than just country legend Billy Ray Cyrus' daughter. Some of her siblings, on the other hand? Not so much. Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith's children, Willow and Jaden Smith, have also taken a shot at fame. Willow has managed to carve out a career that isn't overshadowed by her parents, while Jaden is arguably still living in Will's giant shadow. 

As the internet becomes increasingly obsessed with calling out nepo babies and slamming the poor unfortunate souls on social media, it becomes even more difficult for these kids to make it on their own regardless of talent. Throw in the nasty internet trolls and you realize they have some real hurdles in their path. As a TikTok user commented under a video addressing the topic, "I don't have anything against them personally, but there should be more backlash." Another opined, "It's an issue because it destroys chances of people from less privileged backgrounds." Ouch. 

Miley Cyrus' older half-brother, Trace Cyrus, hasn't quite managed to replicate her fame — or his adopted father, Billy Ray Cyrus,' for that matter. The singer got off to a good start in the late '00s with his band, Metro Station, when they released their super catchy tune "Shake It." But the group went their separate ways in August 2017. There were hopes of a revival in 2019, when Trace told the Alternative Press that he and lead vocalist Mason Musso were teaming up again to revive Metro Station. The singer even acknowledged that they kind of ended up as a one-hit wonder with "Shake It."

As Trace explained, "'Shake It' became so popular for us that it almost became uncool that we were the guys that sang 'Shake It,' because it became so mainstream." His brief reunion with Musso yielded only one song, "I Hate Society," and no music has been released by the band since, at the time of writing. Trace continued his solo career but hasn't managed to make his mark on the industry. He has a meager 3,700 listeners on Spotify, while the singer's YouTube channel boasts just 16,900 subscribers. 

In a 2023 Instagram Q&A, Trace spoke candidly about the challenges of coming from a famous family. "I love my family so much, but I think I'd be much more successful if I wasn't part of a famous family," he admitted, per Billboard. The singer added that he'd always tried to make it on his own, not using his last name when he first started making music to avoid the nepo baby label, arguing, "I got a record deal without anyone from my label even knowing who I was related to 'til after they signed me."

The thing about having celebrity parents is that you need to surpass their achievements before the rest of the world accepts you as anything other than just that famous couple's kid. For Jaden Smith, in particular, it's been hard to set himself apart from his parents' fame. He made it big with his 2010 collaboration on "Never Say Never" with Justin Bieber, but Jaden's solo projects struggled to stand on their own. Pitchfork notably called out the "cringe-worthy lyrics" on his 2017 debut record, "SYRE." Their review decried it as "some of the worst rap in this year," adding, "His lyrics are crass and half-baked and insulting to one's intelligence." The publication gave the record a score of 5.1.

Jaden has notably received some prestigious nominations over the course of his career, but typically for projects he collaborated on with renowned stars — not his solo work. In 2022, he received his first ever Grammy nomination, but it was for his collaboration on "I Can't Be Myself" with Justin Bieber on his "Justice (Triple Chucks Deluxe)" album. Likewise, Jaden's 2007 MTV Movie Awards win for best breakthrough performance was for his role in "The Pursuit of Happyness," in which he starred alongside his father, Will Smith. Jaden was nominated for several more awards for his acting work in the late '00s and the 2010s, but the success of his youth has not carried over into adulthood — yet. 

Jaden admitted on a 2018 episode of mom Jada Pinkett Smith's Facebook Watch series, "Red Table Talk," that growing up with famous parents left him without any understanding of how to live outside the Hollywood bubble. "You have to go out in the real world to really experience that," he asserted. 

David and Victoria Beckham's eldest son, Brooklyn Beckham, is all grown up and forging his own path, but he initially tried to follow in his father's footsteps. When Brooklyn was younger, he seemed poised to become a famous football player. At 15, he landed a spot in Arsenal Football Club's Under-18 side, despite being younger than the other players. This wasn't because they were desperate to have him, however. The team was short on older players who were off playing in Qatar, and Brooklyn was a temporary addition, with no scholarship offered to him after the fact. 

Following this major disappointment, he let that dream go altogether. "To try and live up to what my dad did in football, I was just like, that's going to be a bit difficult," Brooklyn reasoned to Variety in 2022. It wasn't an easy decision, with Brooklyn admitting, "Of course I was sad. It was my whole life since I was literally two." The eldest Beckham kid pursued many other ventures in the years that followed. He tried modeling, then photography. He landed a campaign with Burberry for their BRIT fragrance, which led to a slew of criticism arguing he only got it because of his last name. 

Brooklyn's photography book, "What I See," had the internet making fun of his work. He didn't get any more notable campaigns and ended up putting photography on the back-burner to pursue cooking. He started his Facebook video series, "Cookin' With Brooklyn," in 2021, which netizens also enjoyed sinking their teeth into, but despite that, Brooklyn has continued his culinary efforts on social media. He is yet to become the next Gordon Ramsay, but he's clearly enjoying this venture.

Music legend Billy Joel and supermodel Christie Brinkley's daughter, Alexa Ray Joel, has undergone a stunning transformation over the years, but she has not managed to surpass her father's success, and is yet to even really make it big as a musician. In 2006, Alexa's debut EP, "Sketches," was released but it didn't achieve great commercial success. The six-track record was released independently and also wasn't marketed extensively. Alexa seemed determined to make it on her own, however. In 2011, she released another single, "Beg You to Stay." It also didn't quite take off. After that, 10 years passed before she ventured into music again, with her single "Seven Years" dropping in 2021. 

Alexa confessed to Yahoo! Entertainment at the time that she almost quit music entirely before jumping back in. "I know I'm going to be compared to my mother's beauty and my father's talent, and it takes a lot of internal work — or at least it did for me — to get to a place where I could even feel comfortable getting back in the saddle with music and putting myself out there," she shared, adding that she is also guilty of comparing her work to that of her famous father. 

Still, despite being labeled a nepo baby, Alexa made it clear in a 2010 New York Magazine interview that having the Billy Joel as her father didn't exactly open a ton of doors for her music career. "Nobody handed me a recording contract because of who my father is," she said. In a 2025 chat with Digital Journal, Alexa clarified that she's not really interested in trumping or even matching her dad's achievements either. For her, success means making music people can connect with.