It's one thing to cash in on your parent's name. But when Mom and Dad start trading off yours, things can get ugly

This article is from the May/June issue of Radar Magazine. For a risk-free issue, click here.

Wonderbrats may inspire envy (and derision) from the ill born, but no group is so universally reviled as the reverse nepotists—parents who not only meddle with their cash-cow child's life, but also use their child's talent to command their personal spotlight. Below, proof that while it's one thing to cash in on your parent's name, when Mom or Dad starts trading off yours, things can get downright ugly.

Joe Simpson
The former Baptist minister with a diamond stud earring has been known to praise daughter Jessica's "Double Ds." He's also been known to shield her from paparazzi—not in an attempt to protect his progeny, but rather to protect the fee he earns hawking his own Jessica shots to the tabs. After scoring a producer credit on Jessica's star vehicle, Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica, he went on to produce such diverse fare as Nick & Jessica's Family Christmas, Nick & Jessica's Tour of Duty, The Nick & Jessica Variety Hour, and The Ashlee Simpson Show.

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The Knowleses
Matthew Knowles has been leeching off his Destiny's Child for years. Besides the 10 percent he earns micromanaging Beyoncé's career, Knowles has used his daughter's success to kick-start his own label: Music World Entertainment. Mother Tina takes her cut through Deréon, a clothing line inspired by things "Beyoncé would be happy to wear"—which apparently include fuchsia jumpsuits gilded with floral decals and chunky golden charms, and inappropriately tight activewear emblazoned with the word deréon in giant rhinestones.

Virginia Guynes
Demi Moore's mother, Virginia, proved that you don't need the consent—or love—of your famous offspring to exploit them. Guynes allegedly sold tabloids scurrilous information about her daughter, who eventually cut ties with her completely. Undeterred, Mom was able to leverage her notoriety into a nude photo shoot in High Society. (In homage to Demi's star turn in Ghost, she posed in front of a potter's wheel.) After their estrangement, Guynes continued to give interviews, saying Demi "should take better care" of her mother.

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The Lohans
In between calls to TMZ and tearful interviews with Extra, Michael Lohan—who was recently jailed for attempted assault—used Lindsay's fame to promote a short-lived Christian Candid Camera knockoff, which featured the born-again Mr. Lohan begging for money. When a passerby went for his wallet, Michael said, giggling, "I don't want your money! I'm Lindsay Lohan's father!" His leopard-printed ex-wife, Dina Lohan, recently signed with E! to appear in Living Lohan, which will follow her younger, flatter-chested daughter, Ali, as the spray-tanned 14-year-old desperately seeks attention in Las Vegas.

Nancy Dow
Jennifer Aniston stopped speaking to her mother, Nancy Dow, after Dow gave a revealing interview to a tabloid TV show. But Nancy showed that even being cut off from your successful child can have a silver lining. In 1999, three years since she last spoke with Jennifer, she authored From Mother to Daughter to Friends, which billed itself as "the story of the family that gave the world Jennifer Aniston" and "chronicled the difficulties of having a distant relationship with an adult child." (It also included awkward adolescent pictures of Aniston that the actress hadn't authorized.) In the wake of her divorce from Brad Pitt, Aniston has reconciled with her mother, but she said in one interview: "It's baby steps."

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Honorable Mention: Kathy Hilton
She may have had the Hilton name since Paris was just a twinkle in her father's eye, but it wasn't until her oldest daughter crawled on all fours in a Rick Solomon production that Kathy Hilton (née Avanzino) gained widespread recognition. Hilton has been making the most of it ever since. In 2005, Kathy hosted the reality television atrocity I Want to Be a Hilton, in which she coached 14 wannabes on "the do's-and-don'ts of haute couture, etiquette, and even how to handle an unforgiving press." One reporter who has covered Hilton says she peppers luncheon invites with promises that daughter Paris may arrive (no word if Nicky is mentioned at all, or is just a liability). Not bad for Hilton, who started her Hollywood career in a 1968 flick called The Harem Bunch.

This article is from the May/June issue of Radar Magazine. For a risk-free issue, click here.
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