Leeds-born Spice Girl Mel B’s daughter Phoenix Chi Brown on her Channel 4 nepo baby documentary

Short for ‘nepotism baby’, the term encompasses anyone who is deemed to be in a position of privilege thanks to the work and prestige of their parents. Brooklyn Beckham, Lily-Rose Depp, Zoe Kravitz, Gwyneth Paltrow, Miley Cyrus – the list of nepo babies currently in the limelight is long and varied, and as awareness of the scale of nepotism in culture has grown, so has criticism of those with recognisable surnames.

The anger directed at nepo babies is generally tied to the belief that they are in their position of fame and fortune because of the resources their parents’ names and careers have afforded them, rather than raw talent and hard graft. While these things are not mutually exclusive – you can, of course, be talented and hard working but still benefit from family Hollywood connections – a Channel 4 documentary has shown that a name really can get you further than talent alone.

Phoenix Chi Brown, daughter of Leeds-born Spice Girl Mel B (Melanie Brown), has examined what it all means in Born In The Limelight – Nepo Babies: UNTOLD. In the one-off documentary, she discusses how she feels about being a nepo baby, and runs an experimental prank to see if nepotism is the only secret to success, or whether skill and ability are paramount.

The documentary’s set piece involves Brown, 25, teaming up with a talented budding artist to see which gets the most attention and sales: genuinely good art, or the work of the daughter of a Spice Girl. She sets up an exhibition in a central London gallery and gets to work creating colourful, simple paintings on big canvases before getting them valued and learning how much her rudimentary art is worth – and what it would sell for if she wasn’t Scary Spice’s offspring.

Where did the ide come from?

“Well, I thought it would be, at the beginning, kind of more of a funny idea than a serious one,” says Phoenix.

“I feel like being in the limelight since I was born, I’ve always gotten things written about me when I didn’t even say anything, or I’ve just gotten thrown into the limelight… So I thought it would be kind of cool to maybe twist the words and kind of put the shame on the press, and put the funny side on them, and see if I could play a joke on them.

“But then we wanted to make it more serious, and actually hit a serious problem in the world. So we talked about inequality, and everything (that) revolves around that type of conversation when it comes to work.

“I think we did a pretty good job, because everyone believed it when I said I was an artist! And they even still wanted to talk about it after the fact they realised it wasn’t really 100 per cent the truth. So I think it was a good prank, but also was a good eye opener for a lot of people that were too judgy.”

Was pretending to be an artist difficult to pull off?

“I don’t feel like I was too far-fetched, but my biggest thing (was) I just didn’t want to offend anyone. I didn’t want to try and just say: ‘Oh, I can step into your world, and just do it like a piece of cake’. No, that definitely wasn’t my point.

“But yeah, I was a little nervous. It’s hard having to have your acting skills debuted like that when you don’t really have any! It was definitely fun in the long run, but I was a little nervous when I was doing it, can’t lie.”

How did she feel when an art valuer said that the price of her work would be much higher just because of who her mother is?

“I was pretty shocked,” says Phoenix. “I was kind of gassed. I was like: ‘Wow, maybe I can just make a career out of this! Just sell the work and have mum put a little signature at the bottom!’”

In a way it was also expected as “that was kind of the whole reason why we got an art valuer, to make it known that having a background of value like that can obviously help… But on the other side, it was kind of like: ‘Damn, so if people don’t have this background, their art won’t sell for this much money?’”

It has been 30 years since the Spice Girls was formed following an advert in a trade paper. More than 400 women auditioned for the group with Mel B, Melanie C (Chisholm), Emma Bunton, Geri Halliwell-Horner and Victoria Beckham making the final cut. With tens of millions of records sold, the Spice Girls lay claim to being the best-selling female group of all time.

Mel B also features in the documentary. Phoenix says: “I thought it would be kind of unrealistic if the woman who’d made me, and made me a nepo baby, wasn’t in the documentary and didn’t give her opinion on it! I thought it was needed.”

However, she can describe some of the qualities she’s inherited from her mum which have nothing to do with fame and celebrity.

“Self love. (To) take your time and do your best in life. That’s, like, the most you can always ask for… Just be yourself and do your best… There’s a lot of things she taught me. She’s a good mum! Everything I’ve learned is from her. I wouldn’t be doing what I do if it wasn’t for her, of course. So obviously, everything I’ve learned – the good and the bad – is from the legend herself!”

Born In The Limelight – Nepo Babies: UNTOLD comes to Channel 4 on Wednesday, January 15.