When you think about it, everyone is a nepo baby in some way, including “Saturday Night Live” star Maya Rudolph. However, as she discussed in an episode of Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” podcast that aired Monday, it doesn’t really matter if you’re not entering the same field as your successful parents.
Rudolph, 51, is the daughter of accomplished songwriters and musicians Richard Rudolph and the late Minnie Riperton, famously known for the hit single “Lovin’ You.”
“They were musicians,” she explained, noting that despite her parents’ success, she didn’t receive a direct advantage in her career. “They weren’t actors.”
“My goal was to move to New York and be on Saturday Night Live,” Maya Rudolph said, acknowledging the enormity of her ambition. “It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, my dad writes songs, that’s going to make me a comedian.’ There was no direct connection. I knew I had to make it on my own.”
Rudolph was only six years old when her mother, Minnie Riperton, died of breast cancer in 1979 at the age of 31. “So when I started on SNL, people didn’t initially know she was my mom, and they figured it out later,” Rudolph shared. “As a kid who lost their mom, you don’t want people to know that.”
“I’ll never get over how young she was,” she added somberly.
Maya Rudolph continued her subtle tradition of honoring her late mother during her appearance on “Saturday Night Live” this past weekend.
In an episode filled with sketches celebrating Mother’s Day, Rudolph took the opportunity during one of the show’s commercial bumpers to recreate a photograph of her mother, soul singer Minnie Riperton.
Rudolph has consistently paid tribute to her mother, who died in 1979 when Rudolph was just six years old, during each of her hosting stints on SNL. In her first hosting appearance in 2012, Rudolph emulated the cover of Riperton’s “Perfect Angel” album, posing in overalls and holding a dripping ice cream cone.
In her 2021 episode, Rudolph appeared against a backdrop haloed with flowers, mirroring the cover art of Riperton’s third album, “Adventures in Paradise.” Her most recent bumper continues this theme, once again featuring Rudolph crowned with flowers, echoing another image from that album’s artwork.