Hollywood actor Harry Hamlin has defended his daughters from being labeled "nepo babies," insisting they have very much "earned" their successes.
Hamlin shares daughters, Amelia Gray and Delilah Belle, with Lisa Rinna, his actress wife of 27 years. Amelia, 23, and Delilah, 24, have boosted their collective resumes in recent years, posing on magazine covers, featuring in runway shows, and garnering millions of social media followers. They also appeared on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills during Rinna's run on the reality show.
However, the rising stars have been drawn into the enduring online conversation around how a host of celebrities' familial connections have helped propel them to success.
While it's long been known that nepotism has helped establish and boost the fortunes of people in a number of sectors for centuries, many so-called nepo babies of the entertainment industry have recently faced increased scrutiny.
Mayfair Witches star Hamlin, 72, has now spoken out in his daughters' defense, insisting that while their connections may have opened doors, it's their own hard work that has sustained their blossoming careers.
"My girls work, and how dedicated they are and how much time they spend on their careers, they did this on their own," the actor told Newsweek. "I mean, yeah, OK, it's great to have, you know, an entrée like that, but you've got to have the goods. I mean, you've got to come up with the goods. And if you don't come up with the goods, yeah, you're a flash in the pan, you're there for a second, and you're gone.
"That's not going to happen here, because my kids... their work ethic... I learn from them every day. Amelia works harder than anybody I know, and so anybody who has a nepotism or 'nepo baby' take on it, they can have their own opinions, but they earned this by working really hard."
Hamlin has a 44-year-old son, Dimitri, from his relationship with Clash of the Titans co-star Ursula Andress.
Family Venture
While Hamlin has built a career as a revered actor and entrepreneur, his own family ties have inadvertently led to him launching his latest venture: a rosemary red wine pasta sauce. Aptly called Harry's Famous Sauce, the culinary project came to be after Hamlin was seen preparing a Bolognese for his wife's RHOBH costars.
With drama and fighting remaining a ubiquitous presence on the Bravo hit, it was only inevitable that cast members squabbled over wanting more of the sauce. AMC executives soon approached Hamlin to do a cooking show, leading to the new series In the Kitchen with Harry Hamlin.
"What the f***? Why do you want me to do a cooking show?" Hamlin told Newsweek of his reaction to the pitch, before being told that the reaction to his sauce on RHOBH birthed the idea.
Insisting that he's "not a chef," Hamlin said that he would only sign up for the show if he could collaborate with his Cordon Bleu School-trained niece, Renee Guilbault, whom he proudly refers to as "a huge executive chef."
Following the show's debut, the sauce remained a persistent talking point. "Everybody kept coming to me and asking me where they can get my sauce," Hamlin said. "I was like, 'Well, I cook my sauce at home. I mean, I can send you a bottle if you really want it.' And so I started sending the sauce around to people for Christmas, and everybody went nuts for it."
After taking a "what the hell" approach to making it official, Hamlin shared that he "went out to Texas and I found a factory there that could reproduce it exactly as I make it on the stove, but in massive quantities."
Clean Eating
It has since led to the launch the Open Food Company, through which Hamlin and his niece plan to produce a range of foods—with natural ingredients.
"What [my niece] has found in her 30 years of experience in the food business is that so much of the food that we eat is processed, and like 70 percent of what we eat in America is ultra processed," Hamlin explained. "And she said it's time for there to be a company that produces only the most transparently natural food with ingredients that are kitchen-found, that are not ingredients that involve any chemicals, any preservatives or any of the junk that you find in most food products that are processed today.
"So for example, this sauce has exactly eight ingredients, and they are crushed tomatoes, red wine, tomato paste, water, honey, extra-virgin olive oil, whole garlic, and organic rosemary—that's all. So no natural colors, no natural flavors, no food preservatives, no nothing. It's absolutely clean food."
Hamlin said that bottles of the sauce—which are currently on pre-order online, ahead of shipping in mid-to-late-October—will also feature QR codes that customers can scan to make it themselves. "If you want to spend three hours, you can do that and get a really tasty sauce," Hamlin enthused. "Or you can buy it [online] and hopefully within the year at Whole Foods and all a lot of other stores as well."
Recipe for Good Health
Hamlin, who estimates that he created his sauce "maybe 25 years ago," has perfected his culinary skills through a commitment to home-cooked meals.
"I cook for myself. So I I don't eat restaurant food if I can avoid it," he explained. "And every meal that I I eat, I cook for myself, and I cook only with natural ingredients and organic when I can get it... I mean, I will eat, you know, processed food from time to time, but I try to avoid it as much as possible.
"Restaurant food just tastes good going down usually, but then a couple hours later, you go, 'Oh, what was that? What was in that food? I don't know it tasted good, but, you know, it's not dealing with my colon very well.'"
Having a good business head has proved to be a vital asset for Hamlin in the decades since he first shot to fame, particularly with the unpredictable nature of Hollywood.
"I just witnessed the last [actors and writers] strike that we had and the repercussions ," he said. "That was the fifth strike in my career, and the business always de-escalates with every strike, and becomes harder and harder for actors to have, you know, a really great living being an actor.
"So I think diversification is always a good thing. No matter what you're doing and how you're living... it's is just random. I mean, I didn't come up decide that I wanted to go into the food sector. That was kind of decided for me by AMC, and since they're my home network, it's hard for me to go, 'Well, AMC, take a hike.' I'm not gonna do that."
Harry's Famous Sauce is currently on pre-order for shipping in October.
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