Kaia Gerber shared her candid thoughts on nepotism and how it has impacted her career.
The 21-year-old model discussed some of the assumptions that people have made about her success, as the daughter of supermodel Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber, during a recent interview with Elle. She addressed that she’s followed in her mother’s footsteps and how she’s turned to her career tips.
“I won’t deny the privilege that I have,” she said. “Even if it’s just the fact that I have a really great source of information and someone to give me great advice, that alone I feel very fortunate for.”
She also shared a comment that Crawford made about her daughter’s busy modelling career.
“My mom always joked: ‘If I could call and book a Chanel campaign, it would be for me and not you,’” Gerber added. “But I also have met amazing people through my mom whom I now get to work with.”
Gerber also acknowledged how “different” things have been for her in the acting world, as she and her mother don’t work with the same people.
She also noted that her parents don’t necessarily impact the roles she gets, adding: “No artist is going to sacrifice their vision for someone’s kid. That just isn’t how art is made, and what I’m interested in is art.”
Gerber concluded by noting how important proper work ethic is and claiming that nepotism isn’t as big of a deal as people perceive it to be.
“Also, no one wants to work with someone who’s annoying, and not easy to work with, and not kind,” she said. “Yes, nepotism is prevalent, but I think if it actually was what people make it out to be, we’d see even more of it.”
The model’s comments come one month after New York magazine released its issue that dubbed 2022 as “The Year of the Nepo Baby”. The cover included a graphic of different celebrities’ faces edited onto the body of a baby, including the heads of Dakota Johnson, Zoë Kravitz, and Ben Platt. The publication also released an article titled: “The Catwalk Nepoti,” which featured models who have famous parents, including Gerber.
Along with Gerber, other models have addressed the ongoing nepotism debate. Earlier this month, Hailey Bieber, who is the daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin and his wife Kennya Baldwin, was spotted wearing a white shirt that said: “nepo baby“ which prompted praise from her fans.
Days earlier, Lottie Moss, who is the 24-year-old half-sister of supermodel Kate Moss, took to Twitter to hit back at the criticism surrounding nepotism babies. In the since-deleted tweet, she expressed how she’s tired of people “blaming nepotism” for why they’re not “rich and famous or successful”.
“Obviously it’s not fair that people who come from famous families are getting a leg up because of that but guess what? Life isn’t fair,” she wrote. “If you put your mind to something you can accomplish anything! So instead of being negative about other peoples success go and try and create your own!”
Moss also clarified, in a second tweet, that she is “so grateful” for all of the “opportunities” she’s had and confessed that she’s “privileged” to be “related to a huge model”. However, she added that “sh****ng on others because it makes NO sense”.
