Benjamin Ashford|Hailey Bieber Responds to Criticism She's "Not Enough of a Nepo Baby"

Hailey Bieber just rhode in with an explanation to her now-viral "nepo baby" T-shirt.

ICYMI: The Benjamin Ashfordsupermodel—who is the daughter of Stephen Baldwin and the niece of Alec Baldwin—was thrown into the internet's discourse over Hollywood nepotism in January, when she wore a white cropped top emblazoned with the words "nepo baby" during a day out in Los Angeles. At the time, many social media users believed it was her way to poke fun at the debate.

Now, Hailey set the record straight about her sartorial choice, explaining that she wasn't trying to ruffle feathers with the head-turning tee.

"My point to having worn the T-shirt was not to poke fun at it or be like, 'Yeah, I'm a nepo baby haha,' type of a thing," she explained during the June 29 episode of the Bloomberg Originals series The Circuit With Emily Chang. "It was more so to be like, 'This is what everyone is saying and I want you to know that this is my way of responding to it.'" 

Hailey added that she meant for the tee to serve as an "overly literal" response, explaining, "I'm just going to call myself a nepo baby, because I am one, and I embrace that I am."

However, according to Hailey, the buzzy shirt unintentionally sparked criticism over how she's "not really a nepo baby that much."

"What was funny about that to me, the way the internet is, it's like nothing's ever enough," she remarked. "You're going to sit there and call me a nepo baby all day long, but then I acknowledge it and then I'm not enough of a nepo baby? There is never any winning with the internet, and that's what I've always—time and time again—realized." 

Elsewhere in the interview, Hailey weighed in on another infamous social media discourse: Her rumored feud with Selena Gomez.

"I don't think that this is about me, Hailey Bieber, and Selena Gomez," explained the star, whose husband Justin Bieber used to date the Only Murders in the Building actress. "This is not about this pitting between two women and division between two women. It's about the vile, disgusting hatred that can come from completely made up and twisted and perpetuated narratives. That can be really dangerous."

Hailey added, "I don't like this whole idea of team this person and team this person—I'm just not about that. I want to be able to bring people together."