Hollywood is full of famous families who barely speak to each other. You see the glitzy red carpet photos, but behind the scenes, it’s all lawyers and cold shoulders. That wasn't the case for Rashida Jones and Peggy Lipton. Their relationship was different. It was deep, slightly nerdy, and fiercely loyal. When Peggy passed away in 2019, it didn't just leave a hole in Rashida's life; it felt like the end of a specific kind of Hollywood era—one where family actually came first.
Growing up as the daughter of a music mogul like Quincy Jones and a counterculture icon like Peggy Lipton sounds like a fever dream. Imagine having Frank Sinatra or Michael Jackson just... around. But for Rashida, the center of the universe wasn't the recording studio. It was her mother.
A Legacy Beyond the Mod Squad
Most people remember Peggy Lipton as Julie Barnes, the flower-child undercover cop in The Mod Squad. She was the "It Girl" of the late 60s. She had the hair, the stare, and the Golden Globe. But then she did something people in Hollywood rarely do. She walked away.
When she married Quincy Jones in 1974, she basically quit. She wanted to be a mom. That’s it. For fifteen years, she wasn't an actress; she was just Peggy, raising Rashida and her sister Kidada in Bel Air.
Rashida has always been open about how much that sacrifice shaped her. It wasn't just that Peggy stayed home; it was the way she did it. They were a team. Peggy was the one helping Rashida prep for every single audition, even decades later when Rashida was already a star on The Office and Parks and Recreation. Honestly, can you imagine having a Golden Globe winner as your personal acting coach in your living room?
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The Twin Peaks Connection
When Peggy finally did return to the screen, she did it in the most iconic way possible: as Norma Jennings in Twin Peaks.
If you think the show was weird to watch, imagine being a fifteen-year-old on that set. Rashida used to hang out there while her mom filmed. She recently admitted she was so terrified of the character Killer BOB that she checked under her bed every single night until she went to college. She even had to introduce herself to the actor, Frank Silva, just to prove to her brain that he wasn't a soul-eating demon.
That’s the kind of childhood they had—part supernatural horror set, part academic hothouse. Both Peggy and Quincy were secret "nerds" who pushed their kids to read. Quincy once wrote about finding a six-year-old Rashida under the covers with a flashlight, reading five books at once. Peggy fostered that. She didn't want "Barbie dolls"; she wanted smart women.
Navigating the Interracial Landscape
We have to talk about the 1970s. An interracial marriage between a Black music legend and a Jewish TV star wasn't just "news"—it was a target. Peggy and Quincy faced some serious vitriol.
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Rashida has spoken about the "heartbreak" of people not knowing "what" she was. She was often told she was "too exotic" for white roles and "too light" for Black roles. Peggy was her anchor through that identity crisis. She taught Rashida how to navigate a world that wanted to put her in a box.
When Tupac Shakur famously criticized Quincy Jones for marrying a white woman in a 1994 interview, a teenage Rashida didn't stay quiet. She wrote a scathing open letter back to him. That’s the Peggy Lipton influence right there: fierce, articulate, and unwilling to let family be disrespected. (Side note: In a classic Hollywood twist, Tupac eventually apologized and became a close family friend, even getting engaged to Rashida’s sister, Kidada, before his death.)
The Hardest Goodbye
In 2004, Peggy was diagnosed with colon cancer. She beat it then, showing a level of grit that her "cool girl" persona often hid. But when it returned years later, things were different.
Peggy died on May 11, 2019. It was the day before Mother’s Day.
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Rashida and Kidada were by her side. In their official statement, they called her their "beacon of light." Since then, Rashida’s work has often felt like a quiet tribute to her mom’s sensibility. She directed the documentary Quincy about her father, but if you watch closely, it’s Peggy’s presence in the old footage—the way she looks at her kids, her quiet grace—that grounds the whole story.
What We Can Learn From Them
It’s easy to look at celebrities and think their lives are untethered from reality. But the Rashida Jones and Peggy Lipton dynamic offers a few real-world takeaways:
- Mentorship starts at home: You don't need a Hollywood career to be your child's biggest coach. Peggy’s willingness to help Rashida with auditions, even when she wasn't acting herself, built a bridge of trust.
- Boundaries matter: Peggy knew when to step away from the limelight to protect her peace and her kids. Success doesn't always mean "more" work; sometimes it means "better" life.
- Lean into the "Nerdiness": Both women prioritized intellect over the "LA look." In a world obsessed with filters, being the person with five books under the covers is a better long-term strategy.
If you're looking for a way to honor that kind of bond in your own life, start by finding a shared "academic pursuit," as Rashida calls it. Read the same book, watch a weird David Lynch series together, or just be the person who checks under the bed for the monsters. It clearly worked for them.
To explore more about the history of 70s icons, you might want to look into the early archives of The Mod Squad or watch the 2018 documentary Quincy to see the family's home videos firsthand.