Elle King wasn't "really speaking" to her dad Rob Schneider when she began her music career.
Elle King doesn't feel she's been branded a 'nepo baby'
The 'Ex's + Oh's' hitmaker - who is the daughter of the 60-year-old actor and former model London King - thinks she's been able to avoid being branded a "nepo baby" and doesn't feel she owes her success to her famous father.
Speaking to Kaitlyn Bristowe on the 'Off the Vine' podcast, she said: “I do work really hard. I don't think I ever really got scooted into the ‘nepo baby’ thing.”
Asked if Rob's Hollywood career had had an influence on the "direction" she chose on life, Elle added: “It was more of like a deterrent."
Noting she and the 'Benchwarmers' star "weren't super close" when she landed her record deal, she said: “We really weren't even speaking... I was a lot closer with my mom's family in Ohio, and so I just have always gone by my mom's last name.”
The 35-year-old musician admitted it is "easy to judge" and have preconceptions about her because of her family, especially as if anyone searches her online, Rob's name is typically the "first thing" to crop up, but she insisted her reality has been very different.
She said: “I was born in California, and nobody knows that I really grew up in Ohio, and [I] didn't even move to New York until I was a teenager.
“So, I feel like it's just so unfair.
“And, yeah, of course, there can be any situation in the world and be like, ‘OK. It's so much easier to just look surface level and not think that there could be any layers to anything ever."
Elle was determined to be successful in her own right.
She said: "Growing up as somebody who was chubby, awkward, funny, has OCD and is weird and quirky and awkward but super sensitive, I had to really fight to be OK as myself. So I didn't want to be known as someone's kid.
"I wanted to be my own person. I never wanted to borrow money from anybody, and I've worked hard for my family and for me. I want to have a life built for myself, and I want to know that I did it."
Although the 'Drunk' singer doesn't attribute her career success to her dad, she thinks she got her "pipes" from him.
She said: “My dad can sing.
“He does the best Elvis I've ever heard. It's pretty wild.”
And not only did Elle get her sense of humour from her mom, who is the "funniest person [she's] ever met", London helped her find her passion and encouraged her musical path.
She said: “My mom was the one, you know, carrying my guitar and sneaking me into bars, and letting me stay out with my friends and taking the guitar home for me.
"My mom was always just, like, telling me to take lessons, and she would drive me everywhere. And she took care of me and always made sure that I had some form of a creative outlet."
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