It’s not unheard of for actors to ascend the otherwise grueling road to success with relative ease thanks to their lucky charm called nepotism. Not for Scott Eastwood though. Sure, he’s the son of Hollywood’s very own prodigy and five-time Oscar winner Clint Eastwood, and that certainly amounts to something right? Not if your father wants you to work your fingers to the bone, it doesn’t.
Scott Eastwood Didn’t Enjoy the Fruit of His Father’s Fame
While having a famous parent, especially if it’s someone as esteemed as Clint Eastwood, would naturally result in less labor and more privileges, Scott Eastwood can’t say he can relate.
For the longest time, the F8 star, who was born out of wedlock, grew up without a father. During his high school years, however, the acclaimed filmmaker took Eastwood, 37, under his wing for good. That’s not to say he got an easy way out. On the contrary, the Fury star had to fight tooth and nail in showbiz to earn a name for himself. In fact, Eastwood went with his mother’s maiden name during the nascent stages of his career to avoid being slammed as a ‘nepo baby.’
Even after adopting the fabled Eastwood name, The Suicide Squad star didn’t particularly get to reap the benefits attached to it. Sure, his father is sitting on a dazzling fortune of roughly $350 million, but Eastwood himself never got a penny to his name. Rest assured, the $12 million net worth that he has amassed is all thanks to his toils, not daddy’s money.
Clint Eastwood Wanted Him to Earn His Way to the Top
While Eastwood has been a part of a number of projects that his father has either helmed and/or starred in, it doesn’t outweigh the fact that the former had as laborious a childhood as any. So much so that he spent his teenage years clearing restaurant tables to put himself through school and devoted his early days in Hollywood to sleep-deprived nights of bartending and learning lines for auditions.
The Gran Torino director was so adamant about letting his son push through life the gritty, old-school way, that he even refused to lend him a loan worth eight grand for a truck. Eastwood even promised to pay the sum back in monthly installments, but the 93-year-old wasn’t willing to budge.
“I called [Dad] and was like, ‘I’ve got this job, can I get eight grand to buy a truck? I’m working this job, I can pay you back ‘X’ amount a month, you know,’ and I remember the phone going silent… And he’d just be like, ‘Yeah, no. You’re done with what you’re doing.’ He wouldn’t give me a dime.”
A few thousand dollars probably amounted to spare change for someone like Clint Eastwood, but it was, conspicuously enough, never about the money for him as much as it was about the principle of it. Safe to say, he’s well aware of being humbled to the core, all thanks to the “hustler mentality” that runs through the Eastwood blood.
Source: GQ Australia
