The ‘Austin Powers’ star’s parents told her ‘Hollywood would claim my soul’

Some parents are thrilled to have their children chase their Hollywood dreams, but others are not as supportive.

Heather Graham recently revealed that she has been estranged from her parents for almost 30 years due to their lack of support.

She told The Wall Street Journal that her father, “regularly told me that the entertainment industry was evil and that Hollywood would claim my soul.”

Graham moved out of her parents’ home at 18 after her breakout role in “License to Drive” in 1988, recalling “I said to myself, ‘I’ve got to get out of here, I’ve got to be successful, and I’ve got to be a movie star.’”

Heather Graham recently spoke about being estranged from her parents for almost 30 years, saying her father “regularly told me that the entertainment industry was evil and that Hollywood would claim my soul.” (Ivan Apfel/Getty Images)

She added, “I stopped talking to my parents when I was 25, and I’m estranged from them now. My friends are proud of me, and I’m proud of myself. I have really good friends.”

Graham is far from the only star whose parents did not approve of their dreams of stardom.

Jennifer Lopez

Jennifer Lopez said her parents, her mom in particular, were not happy she dropped out of college to pursue her entertainment career. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Jennifer Lopez is a mega star, building her career from background dancer to A-lister, but her parents were not always on board with the idea.

Lopez had taken acting and dancing lessons for years and enrolled at Baruch College in Manhattan, dropping out after one semester.

According to a 2009 Lopez biography by James Robert Parish, the “Wedding Planner” star said, “They thought it was really stupid to go off and try to be a movie star. No Latinas did that- it was just this stupid, foolish…idea to my parents and everybody who knew me.”

The decision caused a temporary estrangement for mother and daughter.

“My mom and I butted heads,” Lopez told W magazine in 2013. “I didn’t want to go to college—I wanted to try dance full-time. So she and I had a break. I started sleeping on the sofa in the dance studio. I was homeless, but I told her, ‘This is what I have to do.’ A few months later, I landed a job dancing in Europe. When I got back, I booked ‘In Living Color.’ I became a Fly Girl and moved to L.A. It all happened in a year.”

Jennifer Lopez, right, says she and her mom “butted heads” over her decision to leave college and pursue dance. (Alessio Botticelli/GC Images)

During Lopez’s 2022 documentary, “Halftime,” Lopez said her mother was hard on her and her siblings.

“She did what she had to do to survive, and it made her strong, but it also made her tough,” Lopez said, (via Yahoo). “She beat the s— out of us.”

Guadalupe, Lopez’s mother, admitted she was tough on Lopez and her sisters.

“I was far from the perfect mother,” she said. “The one thing I can always say, everything I did, I did with their best interest at heart.”

“I always had the highest expectations of them,” she added. “It wasn’t to be critical. It was only to show you that you could do better. And Jennifer, she gave me the hardest time, to tell you the truth. We butted heads a lot.”

Jennifer Lopez’s mom admitted in the 2022 documentary “Halftime,” “I always had the highest expectations of them. It wasn’t to be critical. It was only to show you that you could do better.” (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

“I was homeless, but I told her, ‘This is what I have to do.’

— Jennifer Lopez

Dwayne Johnson

Dwayne Johnson said his father was not supportive of his son following in his wrestling footsteps. ( Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)

Dwayne Johnson first made a name for himself in the wrestling world before becoming a major force in Hollywood.

With wrestling, he was initially following in the footsteps of his father, Rocky “Soul Man” Johnson.

“We had the biggest fight between a father and a son over this and, essentially, you’re right, he said, ‘Look around. Look what I have after all these years and I want more for you,’” Johnson told “Today” in 2021.

“And I said, ‘I know, but, and I appreciate that, but I feel like I have something to offer.’ And we fought and fought and fought.”

Dwayne Johnson, left, said he and his dad had “the biggest fight between a father and son” over his decision to go into wrestling. (Michael Tran/FilmMagic)

“Finally, after my mom said, ‘Let me talk to you for a second. Let me talk to you, husband. Let me talk to you about how this whole thing is gonna go down.’ And then he said okay I’ll train you,” he said.

The “Jumanji” star ended up exploring some of his complicated relationship with his father on his NBC comedy series “Young Rock.”

During NBC’s TCA press tour in 2021, he said the process was “incredibly tough,” explaining, “there’s a lot of things in between those years that took place … but it was complicated and the relationship that I had with my dad was incredibly complicated — that was fueled by tough love.”

“He would have loved this, he would have loved this, and he would have been so proud because for the first time, certainly in prime time, we are showcasing this world, that he and all of his brothers of the rings, so to speak, of those men in the ’70s and the ’80s that they gave their life to,” he added.

Dwayne Johnson’s NBC comedy “Young Rock” covered his relationship with his father in a humorous way. (Frank Masi/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

Katy Perry

Katy Perry’s pop music did not always sit well with her evangelical Christian parents. (Getty Images)

Katy Perry, born Katy Hudson, started her music career as a Christian artist but later shifted to pop music, much to her parents’ disapproval.

Since her breakout hit, 2008’s “I Kissed A Girl,” the singer and her parents have clashed in the media over the content of her music.

In 2013, The Huffington Post reported that her father, evangelical preacher Keith Hudson, referred to her as a “devil child” during a sermon, saying, “They ask how can I preach if I produce a girl who sang about kissing another girl? I was at a concert of Katy’s where there were 20,000. I’m watching this generation, and they were going at it. It almost looked like church. I stood there and wept and kept on weeping and weeping. They’re loving and worshiping the wrong thing.”

Despite their disagreements, Perry and her parents have maintained a relationship since her rise to fame.

From left to right, Keith Hudson, Katy Perry and Mary Hudson pose as Katy is honored with the Colleagues Champion of Children Award at Colleagues Spring Luncheon 2024. (Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for The Colleagues)

During a 2017 interview with “Today,” Perry said, “They don’t agree with some of the things I do, and they do wish that I could do other things.”

Perry also told Vanity Fair in 2011, “I think sometimes when children grow up, their parents grow up. Mine grew up with me. We coexist. I don’t try to change them anymore, and I don’t think they try to change me. We agree to disagree. They’re excited about [my success]. They’re happy that things are going well for their three children and that they’re not on drugs. Or in prison.”

Katy Perry, center, said that she is in a good place with her parents. “They don’t agree with some of the things I do, and they do wish that I could do other things.” (Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)

“They don’t agree with some of the things I do, and they do wish that I could do other things.”

— Katy Perry

Steve Martin

Steve Martin has joked he has “no talent” but somehow made it in Hollywood. (Getty Images)

Steve Martin has been hailed as a comedic genius, though he is pretty self-deprecating about his achievements.

“I guarantee you I have no talent. None. So, I had to do a work-around in order to get on stage,” he said in his AppleTV+ two-part documentary, “STEVE! (Martin) a documentary in 2 pieces.”

Throughout the documentary, Martin noted his father, Glenn Martin, could be cold and distant.

“I always thought my father was a little embarrassed by me. He couldn’t quite be proud of an unconventional showbiz act that he couldn’t understand. By that time, I had been so kind of alienated from my father that negative comments were actually my encouragement.”

Steve Martin with his parents, Mary and Glenn, in 1978. (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

As he continued reflecting on their complicated relationship, Martin learned his father had his own Hollywood ambitions that never came to fruition.

“You realize what he went through,” Martin said. “It was a life of hopes and dreams, and he was under incredible stress to support the family. It must have been unbelievable the pressure.”

He also shared on “The Howard Stern Show” in 2012 that following the premiere of his breakout film “The Jerk,” a friend asked Martin’s father what he thought of his son’s movie, and he replied, “He’s no Charlie Chaplin.”

“I always thought my father was a little embarrassed by me. He couldn’t quite be proud of an unconventional showbiz act that he couldn’t understand.’

— Steve Martin

Emma Roberts

Emma Roberts, left, is the daughter of actor Eric Roberts and niece of Julia Roberts. (Getty Images)

Emma Roberts, daughter of Eric Roberts and niece of Julia Roberts, knew she wanted to act after visiting film sets with her aunt.

However, Roberts’ mother was hesitant to let her daughter go into the family business.

“She just didn’t want me to go into it young. When you come from a family that’s in the industry, they’re always like, ‘Be a doctor! Be a lawyer!’ But we end up wanting to be actors,” she told Elle in 2014.

Roberts made her acting debut at age 9 in the 2001 drama “Blow,” starring Johnny Depp, before landing a breakout role at age 13 on Nickelodeon’s “Unfabulous.”

Emma Roberts, right, said her aunt never offered her advice, saying, “No one said anything to me about acting because they hoped it would just be a phase. But I kept doing it!” (Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic/Getty Images)

When asked if her Oscar-winning aunt had offered her any advice, she said, “No. No one said anything to me about acting because they hoped it would just be a phase. But I kept doing it!”

Roberts recently revealed that her famous family has occasionally been a liability.

“I’ve lost more jobs than I’ve gained from being in the business,” she told Flaunt last month. “People have opinions, and sometimes maybe they’re not good opinions of people in your family. I’ve never gotten a job because of it, I know I definitely have lost a couple of jobs because of it.”