America’s next top model? Teen Mom OG star Farrah Abraham opens up to Us Weekly exclusively about her daughter Sophia‘s burgeoning career as a model and businesswoman, along with how Abraham plans to prevent her little one from facing any of the entertainment industry’s potential pitfalls.
The MTV mainstay, 25, tells Us that her 7-year-old daughter’s first fashion show opportunity came in the Big Apple in February 2016, and things have continued to pick up steam since then.
“The first thing she did was in New York Fashion Week,” Abraham says. “There are just a bunch of children’s designers that come together who we know, and so she hosted that. And also Orlando has a huge children’s model magazine, so Sophia is featured in that quite often. And then she opened and closed the show for that.”
Abraham says she is careful to “keep it fun” for her daughter and not encourage her to take on too much at once: “I don’t really feel like I need to go grab an agent because somehow we have it set up like, ‘Oh, we know these people — it is cordial.’ I don’t want her being around weirdos and under pressure.”
The 16 and Pregnant alum points out that she has had her own bumps along the way during her time in showbiz, so she is making a concerted effort to vet the people who join her daughter’s team.
“I have gone through a bunch of stuff, and I just believe in taking it slow,” Abraham explains. “There is really no rush. And if we find the right people, that is great. If Sophia has awesome opportunities that come to her, which we do, it is really just about picking and choosing what we want and what we want to make time for.”
As if that weren’t enough, the youngster is opening her first clothing boutique, Sophia Laurent, in the Austin, Texas, area on September 10. Yes, it’s OK for you to suddenly feel like an underachiever.
“I have to say this — people can say whatever they want about me, but I have to say as a mother, I am so damn proud of how everyone just raves about my daughter,” Abraham says. “And I am so proud of her that she is like, ‘Bypass the lemonade stand — let’s just do a store.’ She is so amazing and so ready for this.”
“But a bigger deal to me even than a store and all this other stuff, is that Sophia had her first cheer practice the other day,” the My Teenage Dream Ended author continues. “I am so excited for her to do cheerleading, so that is a big deal to me because I used to cheer.”
For more about Abraham and her Teen Mom OG castmates, including Catelynn Lowell opening up about seeking treatment for depression, pick up the latest issue of Us Weekly, on newsstands now.
Teen Mom OG returns to MTV Monday, August 22, at 9 p.m. ET.
