Is helping your kids out actually harming them in the long run?

LISA SALMON takes a closer look at the 'nepo baby' debate as music star Noel Gallagher says it's human nature to support our children

- LISA SALMON

YOU may never have heard of a 'nepo baby! But there are plenty of them around, and they're usually very rich and famous.

They are the successful children of celebrities, whose parents' famous names and glittering showbiz connections have helped them either become celebrities themselves, or become very successful in a related career.

Nepo is short for nepotism, which the Collins English Dictionary defines as 'the unfair use of power in order to get jobs or other benefits for your family or friends.

Now celebrities like Noel Gallagher dad to nepo baby Anais and Lily Allen, a nepo baby herself as the daughter of actor Keith Allen, have weighed into the debate themselves.

Talking to the Radio X Evening Show about his 22-year-old daughter taking photos when he was making a record in the studio, Noel said: "The whole nepotism thing, I mean it's human nature to help your children out for the sake of it, because I think if you're knowingly just giving your kids something to do and they're not really good at it, I don't think that's very healthy."

Elsewhere, Lily posted on Twitter: "The nepo babies y'all should be worrying about are the ones working for legal firms, the ones working for banks, and the ones working in politics, If we're talking about real world consequences and robbing people of opportunity. But that's none of my business."

She added: "And before you come at me for being a nepo baby myself, I will be the first to tell you that I literally deserve nothing."

Although the issue may be a little galling for talented people who work hard but don't have famous parents to give them a leg-up, is Noel right about it simply being human nature to help your kids out? "She's good at what she does, her photographs are really, really good and if she was terrible, I wouldn't be doing it Sandra Wheatley.