The Truth About Maude Apatow's Relationship With Her Parents

Maude Apatow is Hollywood royalty. Born to director Judd Apatow and his wife, actress Leslie Mann, Maude's first acting roles were in films that her father directed and often wrote. In 2020, she told the Los Angeles Times (via The Columbus Dispatch), "I acted when I was a kid, but not really, because I was so young. My dad said this the other day: 'It was almost like a simulation of our real-life.' We were doing what we did normally at breakfast or whatever."

Since her days starring opposite her real-life mom and sister — in Judd Apatow's "Knocked Up," "Funny People," and "This is 40" (via The Things) — Maude Apatow has landed some big roles on her own starring in HBO's "Euphoria," Ryan Murphy's miniseries "Hollywood," and Netflix's "Assassination Nation."

Though Maude has tried to distance herself from her famous parents through recent projects, she collaborated with her dad again on "The King of Staten Island" in 2020. She explained the decision, saying, "I really look up to him as a mentor figure in my life. I want to be a director someday, and getting to watch my dad do what he does is very important to me."

Maude also knows she has a great deal to learn from her pro parents when it comes to her acting skills. Though she's never told her dad that his direction has informed her craft, she shared that "his opinion of me as an actor is probably the most important to me."

But just like any family, the Apatows are pros at embarrassing each other. On "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" in 2019, Colbert showed a compilation of Maude's parents talking about her on the show. Her mother, actress Leslie Mann, spoke to the Late Night host about Maude's messy habits, and Apatow jokingly called his daughters "spoiled." But Maude maturely refused to fire back, telling Colbert, "I'm not gonna say anything about them, because I'm not petty like that."

Maude is also highly self-aware, telling the Los Angeles Times (via The Columbus Dispatch) that her career will never be completely removed from her parents' and admitting that it causes her some anxiety. "I'm gonna spend my whole life trying to prove myself as an individual, and that's a chip on my shoulder." But, she said, "It's really important to me to show that I work really hard, because I do. I want to be an individual."

Still, beyond her career, Maude's parents have been incredibly supportive of her mental health, and she shared the difference they made in her experience of OCD and undergoing treatment for it saying that their help "was a big advantage for me." They've also had helpful tips when it comes to managing anxiety. "My parents are very big into meditation, so they've always told me to meditate," she revealed. 

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.