Kaia Gerber Always Knew Her Mom Cindy Crawford was a Famous Model, But Didn’t Realize She Was a Legendary Supermodel Until This Recent Event

“I was starstruck in front of her after.”

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Cindy Crawford and Kaia Gerber
(Image credit: Getty Images)

When you’re Kaia Gerber and your mother is Cindy Crawford, it’s impossible to not know that you’re from famous stock. After all, Crawford is one of the supers, a 1990s supermodel whose legend is only rivaled by fellow supers like Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, and Christy Turlington.

Even after Gerber herself began modeling years and years ago, apparently she still didn’t realize exactly how big of a deal her mom is in the modeling industry—and didn’t until about a year ago, Page Six reports. 

Cindy Crawford and Kaia Gerber

Gerber and Crawford look more like twin sisters than mother and daughter

(Image credit: Getty Images)

In fact, it wasn’t until Gerber watched The Super Models on Apple TV+, released last September, that she fully realized just how well-regarded Crawford really is. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Gerber admitted that her own successful modeling career was no doubt shaped because of Crawford’s, but after watching the docuseries, she finally got the full scope.

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“I was like, ‘I didn’t realize,’” Gerber told the outlet. “‘I knew you were iconic, but…’ I didn’t understand when I was younger. I was starstruck in front of her after.”

Still from the movie The Super Models

"The Super Models" stars Evangelista, Crawford, Campbell, and Turlington

(Image credit: Courtesy)

After all, to the world she’s Cindy Crawford, but to Gerber? She’s just mom. The mother-daughter duo of Crawford and Gerber are lookalikes—it’s a near copy/paste—and Gerber said watching The Super Models opened her eyes to all that Crawford had to go through to provide the life she did for their family, which also includes Gerber’s dad, Casamigos cofounder Rande Gerber, and brother, Presley Gerber.

“What she made of her career, there wasn’t really someone’s footsteps to follow,” Gerber said. “And I thought it was so cool that she always had that ambition, and she did things where people told her, ‘This will ruin your career. Don’t do this.’ And she trusted her instincts.” She further praised her mother for being so “smart and focused and ambitious” from “a very young age,” despite “coming from a very different background" than Gerber herself did.

Gerber obviously did have someone’s footsteps to follow and told The Wall Street Journal that she is well aware of her privilege and leg up into the modeling industry. “I don’t think it’s a topic that will go away, so I’ve clearly reached a point of acceptance,” she said of being a so-called nepo baby. “I personally am very aware of all the wonderful things it has done for me, and I would never, ever say anything negative about it, because that is my truth about it.” 

Cindy Crawford and Kaia Gerber

Gerber, like her mother before her, has forged a successful career in modeling

(Image credit: Getty Images)

While her mother’s name may have gotten Gerber’s career started, her hard work and talent has kept it going; her resume includes work with the likes of Valentino, Prada, Chanel, Fendi, Givenchy, Miu Miu, Burberry, Calvin Klein, Alexander Wang, and Coach, among others. She said she feels fortunate because “I can actually ask my parents [for] advice on career things, on business things,” Gerber said. “That’s very rare, to have parents who are in the same industry or career as you, whose advice you actually can trust.”

Rachel Burchfield
Rachel Burchfield
Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor

Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.