These people were surprised just how popular their parents really are
Growing up, you have a pretty strong idea of who your parents are.
More often than not, growing up means finding out there was soooo much you didn’t know.
Now imagine finding out one of those things is that your parent is famous.
That was the reality for these celebrity kids who didn’t grow up knowing their parents were famous.
1.
Alexa Ray Joel simply thought her parents, Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley, were “popular.”
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“I just thought they were popular,” she told the New York Post in 2010. “I thought I was the star. We were always putting on plays, and dad would do the accompaniment, and mom would dress me up like a Disney princess and be filming everything.”
2.
Jack Quaid didn’t understand why his parents’ jobs were any cooler than anyone else’s.
Frazer Harrison / Getty Images, Frank Trapper / Corbis via Getty Images
“When I was a kid, I didn’t really know having parents that are actors were in any way different from my friends’ parents, who were lawyers,” Jack told Entertainment Tonight in 2016. “The moment where I realized it was slightly different was when I came to school one day, and I said, ‘I was on set.’ And they were like, ‘You were on set?’ I was like, ‘Oh, is that a thing?’ They were like, ‘Yes, it’s cool.’
“I think that was the moment I realized it was slightly different than what most parents do. I had a very normal childhood considering.”
3.
Dax Shepard’s daughter started asking questions about his podcast.
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When asked about whether people listened to Shepard’s podcast for him or his cohost, he had to explain and shared his response with Stephen Colbert.
“Well, baby, because daddy is famous!” His daughter was completely shocked and asked, “Does Mom know?” and Shepard replied, “Of course, my love, your mom is more famous than I am!”
4.
Hilary Duff’s son, Luca, found out from friends at school.
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“I picked him up from school, and when we got home, he’s like, ‘I know your name,'” Duff shared on Good Morning America. “I was like, ‘I know.’ He’s like, ‘No, no. Your name’s Hilary Duff.’ I was like, caught! I didn’t know how to respond. I’m like, ‘Yeah, that is my name.'”
“He said it with a little glint in his eye, like somebody told him something that I haven’t,” she added. “I was like, no, I’m not ready for this yet! He’s seen me on the cover of a magazine before in the grocery store, but I think he thinks that the next day it’s the next mommy’s turn to be on it.”
5.
Prince Jackson started understanding his late dad’s fame by seeing how concertgoers reacted to Michael Jackson.
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“I guess when we kind of realized [how big he was] was when we saw videos of him performing, we were out of the country at the time — we were watching some videos of his performances. And I’ve been used to seeing most females pass out when they see their artist, and they get very emotional,” Prince explained.
“But what blew my mind was when I saw these big, muscle-bound dudes fainting and having to be dragged out. So, I was like, ‘OK, there’s something else going on here.'”
6.
Kaia Gerber’s awakening came on a trip to Disneyland.
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Kaia told Teen Vogue in 2017 that mom Cindy Crawford “would separate her busy home life and work life the best that she could.”
“I think it was only on my 8th birthday, at Disneyland, that I started to understand what was going on. I wanted to take pictures with the princesses, and everyone wanted to take pictures with her!” she recalled.
7.
Brooklyn Beckham saw how a stadium full of people reacted to his dad.
Jeff Kravitz / FilmMagic / Getty Images
“I didn’t actually know that they were big until I was about 13,” he told Wonderland in 2017. “I went to a football game, and people were shouting my dad’s name, and I was like, ‘What?! Oh my God.’ I don’t look at them like that.”
8.
Moses Martin had it dawn on him while taking in a Justin Bieber concert with mom Gwyneth Paltrow.
Paul Hubble / FilmMagic
Paltrow opened up about her son’s realization in a 2013 interview with Home Business. “I just had this incident where we were going to see Justin Bieber, and my son put together that Justin Bieber or someone else might know who I am — like someone that he thinks is great, that might know who I am from Iron Man,” Paltrow said. “It’s recent for him where he goes, ‘Oh, you are in movies.’ They didn’t make that connection for a while.”
9.
Rumer Willis was nearly a teen before she realized just how big Bruce Willis and Demi Moore were.
Stefanie Keenan / Getty Images for Sézane, Jason Kirk / Getty Images
“I don’t know anything different. It’s the same thing if you’ve grown up learning a certain skill and someone else hasn’t,” Rumer told NBC Miami in 2016. “I didn’t realize I guess it was a big deal that they were famous. We would go to Disneyland or something like that, and people would be coming up trying to take a photo, and I just didn’t understand.”
10.
Pam Anderson’s sons were too young to know of her Baywatch fame, so Dylan and Brandon Lee didn’t figure out their mom was famous until they were teens themselves.
Bruce Glikas / Bruce Glikas / Getty Images
Pamela told People her sons broached the subject with her after coming home from summer camp.
“They came up to me, and they said, ‘Mom, are you Pamela Anderson?’ And I said ‘Yeah,'” Pamela said. “They were like, ‘What is that?’ And, ’Why are people saying these things? Are you Pamela Anderson for real? Like, what is going on?’”
11.
Georgia May Jagger didn’t think Jerry Hall or Mick Jagger had unusual jobs.
David M. Benett / Dave Benett / Getty Images for Perfect Magazine
“When I went on tour with my father, I knew he was a musician. But they were my parents,” she told Interview Magazine in 2009. “I still think of my mum as being kind of a dork — a cooler one, but still a dork.”
12.
Ricky Martin’s twins were amazed the first time they saw him really perform.
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“One day, when I thought they were big enough, I said, ‘Go to the front of the house,’ and they see the lights and the whole spectacle,” Martin told People in 2016.
“When the show was over, they came to me and said, ‘Papi, you’re Ricky Martin.’ I said, ‘I’m not Ricky Martin, I’m your father,'” he continued. “They said, ‘No, no, no, you’re Ricky Martin,’ and so it changed.”
13.
Emily Blunt and John Krasinski’s older daughter, Hazel, wouldn’t say just how she found out.
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Emily Blunt told the Sunday Times that her daughter acknowledged knowing, but didn’t say how.
“It’s a strange thing to navigate, you know because Hazel came home the other day, and we were in the kitchen, and she goes, ‘Are you famous?’ And I’d never heard her…we’ve never said that word in our house,” Blunt revealed.
“We don’t talk about it. Someone at school had clearly said it. I was like, ‘Um…not really, I don’t think I am. Did someone say that to you, Haze?’ She said, ‘Yeah,’ but then she wouldn’t divulge much more, you know, but it’s weird. It’s weird.”
14.
Julianne Moore’s kids, Caleb and Liv, didn’t realize until they attended an awards event where she was being honored.
Bryan Bedder / Getty Images
“A couple of years ago, I got an award, and they did one of those film clubs. My kids came, and they had seen one or two of my movies, but they hadn’t seen them all, and they were shocked! Shocked!” Moore told the Edit in 2016.
“First of all, they were shocked that I had done so many movies, and then, that I seemed to be doing these outrageous things.”
What would you do if you found out someone you know is famous? Which unaware kid surprised you most? Open up in the comments!
