Up-and-coming model Gracie Phillips revealed that her father is actor Lou Diamond Phillips after keeping the information under wraps for two years.
The 20-year-old — who is signed to the distinguished Wilhelmina Models agency — told Daily Mail that she felt strongly about establishing her career on her own, without the use of her famous father.
"When I started, I really just wanted to try and do it by myself and say yes, I did it all by myself," Gracie said in an interview published on Feb. 22. "As I was looking on social media, I saw positives but I also saw the negatives—people bashing the kids of people who were in the industry, saying they're only doing this because of this. When I started, I never wanted anyone to say to me, she did this job because of her dad, because of her last name, because of who she is."
Gracie joins the ranks of several young models who have famous parents, most notably Bella Hadid and Gigi Hadid — daughters of former "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star and model Yolanda Hadid, and Kaia Gerber and Preston Gerber, the children of iconic supermodel Cindy Crawford.
Lou, who is known for starring in "Young Guns" and "La Bamba," is father to Gracie, her twin sister Bella, and two other daughters, Lilli, 18, and Indigo, 11.
The 56-year-old father said he couldn't be prouder of his model daughter whom he shares with his ex-wife Kelly Phillips, a former model signed to Elite.
"I'm incredibly proud of Grace and the fact that she wanted to earn this, she wanted to make her own way – I was supportive of that from the beginning. She's been booking jobs, she's been receiving praise and getting incredibly good feedback based on her own merit, without getting any qualifications."
Lou continued, "It's not that I don't want her to say she's my progeny but at the same time, there's no doubt it's very, very rewarding and I'm very, very pleased that she can take all the credit for this herself as she should."
Gracie explained that she is used to being on sets and dealing with paparazzi and fans from her famous upbringing, but she still had a normal childhood, she says.
Now that she's taking her career to the next level, Gracie thinks that her family connections could help her achieve the supermodel status she's working for.
"What I hope is going to happen is, obviously I'd like to say I'll get some bigger jobs and bigger things will happen," she said. "That's my hope. But also I feel like it is a positive that I didn't go into it that way at first. So I'm hoping the reaction is more, 'wow she decided to do this on her own before and that's really admirable.'"