Nicole Flender, Timothée Chalamet's mother, has clarified that her son did not enroll in ballet classes as a child. This revelation came during the American Ballet Theatre Spring Gala on May 20th, where she emphasized that it was Chalamet's sister, Pauline, who trained in ballet, not the actor himself. Flender stated, "Timmy didn't take ballet classes. My daughter did." She added that both she and her daughter, Pauline Chalamet, studied at the School of American Ballet. "Timmy did his own dancing," Flender, 68, emphasized. "You know, he was a rap artist at a high school, so he did his own thing."
This clarification came after Chalamet made comments about ballet and opera during a public panel in February. He faced immediate backlash from the performative arts community for suggesting that he did not want to work in fields that required constant support 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 no one cares about it anymore.' All respect to all the ballet and opera people out there," he said during the panel. He then quipped, "I just lost 14 cents in viewership; I just took shots for no reason."
Shortly after this panel, a childhood video of Chalamet performing in a ballet production resurfaced online. The clip led many to assume that he had trained in ballet as a child. Chalamet later clarified that he grew up around dance due to 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."
