Madonna's son Rocco Ritchie rejects nepo baby label after forging his own career as an artist and takes swipe at 'uninteresting' celebrity offspring

Daily Mail​

25-04-2025

Rocco Ritchie has admitted he struggles with his nepo baby status as he shared his brutally honest views on other celebrity offspring, privilege and men's poor taste in fashion.
The artist, 24, who is the son of Madonna and Hollywood director Guy Ritchie, has held six exhibitions to date - including most recently in Paris, with the support of Giorgio Armani - and counts Stella McCartney and Donatella Versace among his famous collectors.
Technically a nepo baby by definition, Rocco has made it clear what his views are on the concept as he referred to them as 'they' rather than 'we'.
Speaking in the new issue of Fantastic Man magazine he explained he's unsure where he fits on the nepo baby spectrum because, despite having famous parents, he's carving out his own path.
So intent was he on making his own way in the art world, he kept his professional identity secret at first, using the alias 'Rhed'.
But he ditched the pseudonym in 2022, and the following year, held an exhibition in London curated by Lucian Freud's old studio manager, David Dawson.
He explained: 'I always think it's funny that back in the day, some of the most beautiful cathedrals that were ever built would be built by generation after generation of the same family.'
'And now, if you are born from a family - and I'm not saying this is wrong - you start looking at nepo babies and they are not the most interesting bunch, are they?'
As well as trying to reject the nepo baby label, Rocco admitted he never felt comfortable mixing in privileged circles growing up - preferring to socialise with skateboarders in London's South Bank.
'Straight away, I was like, this is the place. Best years of my life,' he said. 'I mean, how much fun are upper-class people? Not that much fun.'
He dropped out of prestigious London art school Central Saint Martins - where a tutor had criticised his paintings for being 'too masculine' - after one year.
'I think he was trying to say it was vulgar. And I didn't think it was vulgar,' he reflected.
'I was 18, doing shitty figurative paintings; my work wasn't even developed enough for anyone to have opinions on it back then.'
He transferred to the Royal Drawing School in Shoreditch, where he finally felt at home.
As well as trying to reject the nepo baby label, Rocco admitted he never felt comfortable mixing in privileged circles growing up - preferring to socialise with skateboarders
He said: 'There, all my dreams came true. I just needed a school that would teach me to draw and paint. I signed up, went in and spent basically a year and a half, seven hours a day, just drawing. They didn't ask for homework. You just shut up and draw.'
Known for his distinctive style, Rocco - who loves wearing tweed and three-piece suits, just like his dad - also delivered a withering review of how men dress today.
'Menswear... I don't even want to give that word the power it has. It's so different from what it used to mean. I always see on Instagram people popping up and saying, "This is my outfit!"
'People really like to show what they're buying and how they're dressing. First of all, who cares? Second of all, this is s***. I mean, who am I to judge? But...
'There's a difference between someone walking in a room and you going, "Whoa, who's this swaggerer over here?" Or they walk in the room and you go, "What are you wearing?"
'I feel like it's a very thin line - a very not-distinct line. I mean, I don't want to sound like a little s***, but most men do not dress well.'
He adds: 'I think Savile Row is a dying situation. It's really hard to sell in this day and age. It's expensive and it takes a really long time. Do you really want to go and spend £5,000 on a suit that takes eight fittings and will be ready in a year?'
Madonna, 66, started dating Guy Ritchie, 56, after meeting at a party hosted by mutual friends Sting and Trudie Styler in 1999.
They married in 2000 but split eight years later. They also share son David Banda, 19, whom they adopted from an orphanage in Malawi in 2006.