Molly Ringwald shares rare glimpse of lookalike nepo daughter Mathilda on her 23rd birthday

Molly Ringwald celebrated her daughter Mathilda's 23rd birthday with a heartfelt tribute on Thursday.

The Pretty in Pink star, 58, took to Instagram to share photos of her eldest child including a cute one of Mathilda as a youngster dressed up in a furry white coat and matching hat and gazing sweetly off to the side.

The second snap showed Mathilda as the young woman she has become while enjoying a nighttime venue and wearing a colorful halter top and makeup.

'Happy birthday my beautiful firstborn. I love you so much!!' Ringwald wrote in the caption alongside a trio of birthday cake, cat and red heart emojis.

Ringwald, who always regretted giving up the Ghost role to Demi Moore, and her husband, author Panio Gianopoulos, 51, share Mathilda along with 17-year-old fraternal twins Adele and Roman.

Fans flocked to the comments section to react to the images and relay their own birthday greetings.

'Happiest of birthdays,' one follower wrote.

'Great pics. Happy birthday!' another penned.

'She's grown into such a beautiful human. Miss all y'all,' a third complimented.

A fourth shared: 'Adorable then and now! Happy Birthday,' while yet another gushed: 'Happy Birthday. Your mother gave me the best life in the 80s. I’m a true fan.'

In August, Ringwald revealed the one piece of dating advice she has given her firstborn child.

'The dating advice I always give her is just to be herself, and also to respect yourself and not to do anything she doesn't want to do,' the mom of three told E! News. 

Laughing, Mathilda added: 'Oh, she's like, "No second chances, don't put up with all that.'

'I feel like you're very strict,' Mathilda added.

Even though Mathilda was raised away from the Hollywood spotlight - the family didn't even own a TV for years - she had a desire to follow in her mom's famous footsteps from a young age.

Mathilda made her screen debut in the wholesome 2015 movie Jem and the Holograms.

Then she landed a supporting role in the 2024 film The Idea of You opposite Anne Hathaway, who played a 40-year-old single mom who begins a romance with a 24-year-old boy band singer (Nicholas Galitzine) she meets at Coachella.

In the romantic comedy, Mathilda played Georgia, the best friend of Izzy (Ella Rubin) who tags along on the trip to the music festival in the California desert. 

Mathilda has also branched out into modeling, taking the catwalk for J Crew during New York Fashion Week in 2017.

Ringwald spoke to People about her daughter's burgeoning career, saying it was 'something that we thought a lot about. She learned how to do it before but it's a hard job and I think she knows what she's in for.'

When asked what her mom taught her, Mathilda said: 'Everything! Be prepared to wait and be nice, which you should always be anyways.'

Ringwald added: 'Remember people's names.'

Meanwhile, The Breakfast Club alum wasn't one to hold back when she revealed Mathilda was conceived in a dressing room at the New York nightclub-turned-theater Studio 54, towards the end of her run in the Broadway show Cabaret.

'I believe that Mathilda was conceived in the dressing room at Studio 54 right at the end of my run playing Sally Bowles in Cabaret in 2003,' Ringwald told The Times in 2024.

'It's so Mathilda to be conceived in such an iconic place. I always knew I wanted to have children, but it took me a while - I was 36 when she was born.

'At that age, the biological clock is a real thing, and it had kind of become deafening. All I could think about was: must have kids.'