Gracie Abrams’ first paycheck actually came from a Santa Monica cookie shop at age 15. And her dad was there to capture the moment.
The Pacific Palisades native –– and daughter of filmmaker J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot co-CEO Katie McGrath –– was probed again about her “nepo baby” status during an interview this week for the New York Times Popcast.
“I had a safety net,” she admitted, explaining that financial stability gave her the time and freedom to focus on music. “When I see people pointing that out, it’s like: I get it, hardcore. The jokes and things, I also understand. I’m like, ‘Go crazy.’”
Gracie, 26, has never tried to present herself as anything other than a regular Westside girl who just happened to grow up in a showbiz family. Before the Grammys and arena tours, she worked a typical first job at Cookie Good on Wilshire Boulevard.
“She was awesome,” owner Ross Canter told The Sun on Monday. “She was great.”
Canter said Gracie worked the counter, serving customers for minimum wage on Saturday afternoons during her sophomore year at the Archer School for Girls. She was the first of many Archer girls to work at the store, Canter said. Her brother even took over for a while after Gracie moved on. “Everybody who followed had to be as good as her or better,”
Canter said.
“I remember when we gave her her first check, her dad came in and picked her up and took a picture of her holding it because it was her first paycheck ever. Now her paychecks are a little bit bigger.”
The pop star — who went on to perform in front of audiences topping 70,000 on Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour — hasn’t lost touch with her first employer. “For the last several years, we do a ton of holiday orders for her,” Canter shared. “She sends out a lot of boxes of cookies.”
Cookie Good may have provided the Grammy winner a first job, but it was hardly her last local connection. She is frequently spotted dining with her family at celebrity hotspot Giorgio Baldi on West Channel Road.
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In 2024, the Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier lit up with a custom display celebrating the release of Gracie’s second album The Secret of Us. It was a very hometown moment for an artist whose rise has played out mostly in her own backyard.
The next chapter for Gracie begins July 17 with the release of her third album, Daughter from Hell. She told The Times the record was partly inspired by her evolving relationship with her mother.
“It felt like the first time I was able to write a song, but really write anything other than a text apologizing to my mom for being so brutal growing up,” she said.
“I think my mom and I, we earned our relationship we have now, for sure. She is like, my favorite person. We FaceTime. I call her like six times a day.”
McGrath will most certainly be in the audience when Gracie returns home for four sold out shows at the Kia Forum in December –– an achievement she earned all by herself.
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