You may envy those born to celebrity parents, thinking that their life is easy and they have it all lavishly on a golden platter. While that could be true in some, if not most, cases, there are celebrity children who gave up all the glory and fame to seek normal jobs with normal salaries, becoming the “anti-nepo babies.”
Here are some examples that said goodbye to fame and hello to the average life.
Jamie Oliver’s daughter Daisy
Jamie and Jools Oliver’s daughter, Daisy, 21, chose a career path as a nurse. She started from the bottom and had just ended a three-month placement at a hospital in Leeds. Trainee nurses in the NHS tend to earn around $30,000 per year.
Rowan Atkinson’s son Ben
Rowan Atkinson and former wife Sunetra Sastry’s son, Ben, 31, ended up in the military. Ben joined the Gurkhas, a special unit in the British Army, in 2019 after spending three months in Nepal. Gurkha privates earn around $1,500 per month, which amounts to around $17,000 per year.
Ulrika Jonsson’s daughter Bo
Ulrika Jonsson’s daughter, Bo, 24, gave up a life of fame to become a nanny after completing her training at Norland College. Jonsson expressed how proud she was of her daughter, who was born with a congenital heart disease, for her amazing achievements.
A Norland nanny like Bo with 1–2 years of experience can earn between $57,000 and $60,000 per year.
Brian McFadden’s daughter Molly McFadden
Molly McFadden, 23, is an acting student at Lir Academy at Trinity College Dublin. Molly graduated in 2022 with a Diploma in Acting and Theatre Studies and allegedly, she is undergoing a three-year, full-time, intensive honours degree, which is expected to be completed in 2025.
The average drama graduate salary is $30,000 per year.
Gordon Ramsay’s daughter Megan
Megan Ramsay, 26, graduated from Oxford Brooks University with a psychology degree in 2019. She currently works as a police officer. Gordon Ramsay expressed how proud he was of Megan, saying: “Megan’s an incredible police officer.”
He also told The Telegraph that his $220 million fortune is not going to his kids so as not to spoil them. Megan makes around $48,000 a year as a police officer.
Carol Vorderman’s daughter, Dr. Katie
Dr. Katie King, 31, proved to be as smart as her mathematician mother and became a nanoscientist. If you’ve completed your PhD and doing research, you can earn between $31,000 and $44,000.
Senior-level nanotechnologists can earn between $48,000 and $50,000 and professors or similar can earn over $76,000. She has done extensive and fascinating work in cancer treatment and she has the support of the European Space Agency.
Gordon Ramsay’s son Jack
Jack Ramsay, 20, joined the Marines in 2020. Gordon Ramsay revealed the news on Instagram, with a caption that read: “Can’t tell you enough how proud I am of this young man.” Royal Marines Commandos start with a salary of over $31,000 and can reach $64,000 as they progress in their careers.
Bruce Springsteen’s son Sam
Bruce Springsteen’s youngest son, Sam, was sworn in as a firefighter in Jersey City in 2020. Both his parents attended the ceremony, sitting in the front row as they watched their son enter his new role. Bruce expressed his pride, saying: “We’re very proud. It was a long road.”
Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall’s daughter Leslie Howard
Leslie didn’t follow in her iconic parents’ footsteps. Instead, she became a yoga instructor, having married US yoga master Erich Schiffman in 1990. It is worth mentioning that she also worked as an emergency room nurse in the 1970s and 80s.
Harrison Ford’s son Ben
Ben Ford, 57, gave up the spotlights to become a chef. He is also the owner of the chain Ford’s Filling Station. He was married to Emily Ford, but unfortunately, they got a divorce after reaching a settlement in March 2024.
Elizabeth Taylor’s son Michael
Michael, 71, named after his acting father, sought acting for a while until he gave it up for sculpting, embracing his private life. His work can be seen at the G2 Santa Fe Gallery.
Michael enjoys sculpting so much he sees it as “a kind of improvisational journey, a conversation with stone.”
Paul McCartney’s daughter Heather
Heather chose a different kind of art, pottery, so much so that she studied pottery and design at art school. At one point, she headed to Mexico, where she lived among the Huichol and Tarahumara groups of indigenous people.
She also traveled to Arizona, returning to her biological father, Joseph Melville See Jr. She then returned to England to work as a potter.
Willem Dafoe’s son Jack
Jack Dafoe, 42, abandoned stardom to establish a career in public policy research. He leads a private life, so not much is known about him.
However, in 2008, he was listed as a Senior Policy and Research Associate for Apollo Alliance, an organization promoting clean and sustainable living.
Tom Selleck’s daughter Hannah
Hannah Selleck, 35, is an equestrian and owner of the Descanso Farm in Thousand Oaks, California. Her love for horses was birthed thanks to growing up on a ranch and she is passionate about horseriding.
She had an injury in 2018, but it didn’t stop her from pursuing her love for horseriding.
Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise’s son Connor
Connor has an undying love for food. He runs his own BBQ business, Connor’s Meat Shack, and has a knack for fishing. His Instagram is proof: His personal Instagram shows that he’s a great fisher, and his business one shows his passion for barbecuing.
Jessica Lange and Mikhail Baryshnikov’s daughter Shura Baryshnikov
Shura Baryshnikov is a talented dancer, so much so that she became a dance teacher. Currently, she’s the Head of Physical Theatre for the Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Programs at the prestigious Brown University. In addition, she founded Doppelgänger Dance Collective, her own contemporary dance project.
