Timothée Chalamet’s mother Nicole Flender has clarified that he did not take ballet classes as a child.
His mother made the clarification while speaking at the American Ballet Theatre Spring Gala on May 20, saying it was the actor’s sister who trained in ballet, not Chalamet.
Flender said, “Timmy didn’t take ballet classes. My daughter did.”
She added that both she and Chalamet’s sister, Pauline Chalamet, studied at the School of American Ballet.
“Timmy did his own dancing,” Flender, 68, added. “You know, he was a rap artist at a high school so he did his own thing.”
The clarification comes after Chalamet made comments about ballet and opera during a public panel in February. He faced immediate backlash from people in the performative arts for saying he did not want to work in fields that needed constant support just to survive.
“I don’t want to be working in ballet, or opera, or things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive, even though like no one cares about this anymore.’ All respect to all the ballet and opera people out there,” he said during the panel.
The actor then quipped, “I just lost 14 cents in viewership, I just took shots for no reason.”
Shortly after, a childhood video of Chalamet in a ballet production resurfaced online. The clip led many to assume he had trained in ballet as a child.
Chalamet later said he grew up around dance because of his family background. “My grandmother danced in the New York City Ballet, my mother danced in the New York City Ballet, my sister danced in the New York City Ballet,” he told a reporter.
“I grew up dreaming big backstage at the Koch Theater in New York.”
