Paul Mescal’s musician sister Nell hits back at claims she’s only successful because of her brother

Paul Mescal’s musician sister has hit out at trolls who claim she is only successful because of her famous brother, saying it is “frustrating” when people think that way.

Nell Mescal, 19, is the younger sister of the 27-year-old Normal People star — who is up for the Academy Award for Best Actor next month for his role in Aftersun.

She is a rising star on the singer-songwriter circuit and has signed a deal with Q-Prime — the talent managers behind Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Snow Patrol.

But speaking to the Irish Examiner, the signer said she’d already grown a “thick skin” thanks to some people suggesting that she is using her brother’s success to further her career.

She said: “It comes down to having a thick skin because it can be quite frustrating when people say: ‘Oh, you’re only here because of your brother’. I was going to be doing it anyway. It comes down to trusting what you’re doing.”

She added: “You have to do what you’re doing because you want to and you love it — and not let anyone else’s opinions really deter you.”

Mescal said she wasn’t against people finding out about her music through her brother, but she hoped they would continue to listen for her talent and not because of him.

“It’s natural. If people find me through Paul, I can only hope that they stay because they like the music,” she said. “And that has been true in a lot of cases."

She also spoke about her brother’s rapid rise to fame thanks to his starring role in Normal People, the adaptation of Sally Rooney’s hit novel of the same name, during the 2020 Covid lockdown.

“It was just the craziest time,” she said. “It’s a weird experience seeing something like that happen. But not seeing it happen physically [because of the lockdown]. It was very strange.”

Earlier this month, Paul Mescal said his rise to fame has been difficult to handle in an interview with ES Magazine. He also spoke of his “fury” after a fan groped him.

The actor said a fan touched his bottom outside the theatre where he was starring in a production of A Streetcar Named Desire.

He told ES Magazine: “As we posed for it, she put her hand on my ass. I thought it was an accident, so I like (moved away) but the hand followed.

“I remember tensing up and feeling just, like, fury. I turned to her and said, ‘What are you doing? Take your hand off my ass’.”

Nell Mescal attended the Baftas earlier this month with her brother, who was up for Best Actor for his role in the father-daughter movie Aftersun, and her mother and father.

At the time, the matriarch of the family, Dearbhla, said her Bafta night out was “amazing” amid her ongoing battle with cancer.

Dearbhla is currently undergoing chemotherapy for bone marrow cancer.

Speaking to The Mirror, she said she was “very grateful” to have seen her son’s career go from strength to strength — adding it had been “amazing” to attend the awards at the Royal Festival Hall.

She added: “These past few days feel like I was in a movie... my heart is just so very grateful.”