Elle King on Avoiding the Nepo Baby Label with Dad Rob Schneider: 'I Do Work Really Hard'

• Elle King says the “nepo baby” label doesn’t really hit home for her
• She says she worked “very hard” for her career
• The musician is the daughter of actor Rob Schneider and model London King

Elle King gets candid about the “nepo baby” label.

The “Ex’s & Oh’s” singer, 35, discussed the rise of her music career and her family background as the daughter of actor Rob Schneider, 60, and former model London King in the latest episode Off the Vine podcast with Kaitlyn Bristowe, noting that she has tried to create her own success apart from her family.

“I work really hard,” Elle shared on the podcast, adding, “I don’t think I ever really got into the ‘nepo baby’ thing.”

When Bristowe, 39, was asked if her father’s career in Hollywood influenced the career or “direction” she chose in life, the musician said no.

“It was more of a deterrent,” she admitted, adding that she and her father “weren’t very close” when she first “signed” to her record label.

Elle King performs during the Stagecoach Festival in Indio in April 2024.

Timothy Norris/Getty

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“We really didn’t even talk…” she continued. “I was much closer to my mom’s family in Ohio, so I always went by my mom’s last name.”

Elle went on to say that she’s “easy to judge” from an outside perspective, because if someone were to “Google” her, his name was usually the “first thing” that would pop up — but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

“I was born in California and nobody knows that I really grew up in Ohio, and [I] I didn’t even move to New York until I was a teenager,” she said. “So I feel like it’s so unfair.”

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“And, yes, of course, there can be any situation in the world and be like, ‘OK. It’s a lot easier to just look at the surface and not think there could ever be any layer to anything,’ Elle added.

Although her father didn’t help launch her career, she credits him with giving her his “flutes,” saying on the podcast, “My dad can sing.”

“He does the best Elvis I’ve ever heard,” Elle said. “It’s pretty wild.”

Elle King in Las Vegas in May 2022.

Todd Williamson/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty

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Meanwhile, the “Drunk” performer said she got her humor from her mom, who is “the funniest person I’ve ever met.” Elle said London also helped her find her passion for music growing up.

“My mom was the one, you know, who would carry my guitar and sneak me into bars, let me stay out with my friends and carry the guitar home for me,” she said. “My mom always just, like, told me to go to classes and she would drive me everywhere. And she took care of me and always made sure I had some form of creative outlet.”

Elle, who won a CMA Award and an ACM Award, previously talked about wanting to make a name for herself outside of her parents in an interview with PEOPLE in 2023.

“Growing up as someone who was chubby, awkward, funny, OCD and weird and quirky and awkward but super sensitive, I had to really fight to be OK as me. So I didn’t want to be known as someone else’s kid,” she continues. “I wanted to be myself. I never wanted to borrow money from anyone and I worked hard for my family and myself. I want to build a life for myself and I want to know that I have succeeded.”

Elle added that it is “incredible pressure” to be in someone’s “shadow”.

“I mean, God forbid you’re good at something that happens and maybe it’s passed down in your family…” she said. “My art and my performance on stage? Of course, I grew up watching my dad. My dad can manage a theater or a small comedy club. And I grew up in an environment of very witty, talented, creative people. Of course it will leave a mark on me.”

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Source: HIS Education