If you are a fan of Hollywood movies and TV shows, you might have wondered if Justine Bateman and Jason Bateman are related. The two actors share a last name and have both been in the industry for decades, but are they siblings or just coincidences? Here is everything you need to know about the relationship between Justine Bateman and Jason Bateman.
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Yes, They Are Brother and Sister
According to People, Jason and Justine are indeed brother and sister, with Justine being the older of the two at age 57. Jason meanwhile is 54. They were both born to Kent Bateman and Victoria Elizabeth and grew up in Rye, New York. They have two other siblings, a brother named Paul and a sister named Lisa.
They Both Started as Child Stars
Jason and Justine both got their start in Hollywood as child stars. Justine was 16 years old when she joined the cast of the wildly popular series Family Ties, which ran for seven seasons in the 1980s. As she later told People, fame at such a young age wasn’t always easy. “We were at the level of fame where you just can’t go anywhere,” Justine told People. “You just try to keep your head above water … [and] stay alive.” She added that the level of fame could be mentally and emotionally draining. “ [For one], I found it frustrating having no control over what people thought of you. I’m not saying I’m ungrateful for fame at all. I’m just saying it’s a crazy emotional experience.”
Like his sister, Jason also got a taste of the spotlight at a young age. He joined the cast of Little House on the Prairie in 1980 before moving on to the series Silver Spoons. In 2013, however, he told GQ that he was hesitant to let his own children venture into movies or acting. “This is one of the reasons I don’t really recommend parents putting their kids in the business as an actor,” he told the outlet. “I grew up training myself to pretend to be other people. If you do that at an age where you’re trying to figure out who you are, which is when you’re a kid, you don’t develop schizophrenia, but you can really slow down an organic process, which is trying to find your identity.”
They Have Different Career Paths Now
After taking a hiatus in the 1990s, Jason told The Guardian in January 2022 how he struggled to find his footing in the industry when he was ready to return at the start of the 2000s. He said, “Having thought, ‘This is really fun,’ and staying at the party a little bit too long, I’d lost my place in line in the business; it was a case of trying to claw that back towards the end of the 90s, and not getting a lot of great responses.” These days, Jason has more than resumed his successful career, while Justine has explored a number of passions and interests through the years, including directing and writing. She has also become an advocate for aging naturally.
“I’m not surprised that one of us is in a different place than the other — no better, no worse, just in a different place,” Jason told GQ in 2013. “It was surprising when [our careers] were at the same place or similar: both on television series, both on the same network. Hers was wildly successful, my stuff was sort of middling all the time, but it was pretty neat to be in the same house and both be on television. It was pretty interesting.”
They Are Reportedly Estranged from Their Parents
Siblings Jason and Justine Bateman reportedly don’t have a close relationship with their parents. In 2022, their mom Vicki Bateman told Radar Online that she hadn’t spoken to her kids in years. “If it were up to my children, I’d be dead,” Vicki said about her most recent health struggles. “As I lay helpless on life support, my children turned their backs on me. My daughter even told the doctors to pull the plug.”
Jason has admitted that he has a strained relationship with Vicki and his dad and former manager Kent Bateman, and has talked extensively on his podcast about the unhealthy pressure they placed on him as a child actor.
They Are Proud of Each Other
Despite their different career paths and personal lives, Jason and Justine have expressed their admiration and support for each other over the years. In 2018, Jason tweeted his praise for Justine’s debut novel Fame: The Hijacking of Reality , calling it “a brilliant exploration of fame by my brilliant sister.” In 2021, Justine congratulated Jason on his Emmy nomination for Ozark, writing “So proud of you, brother” on Instagram.
According to Distractify, Jason and Justine also share a close bond with their spouses and children. Jason is married to actress Amanda Anka, with whom he has two daughters, Francesca and Maple. Justine is married to developer Mark Fluent, with whom she has two kids, Duke and Olivia. The siblings often spend holidays and vacations together as a family.
