Hashtag: When your daughter is your interviewer! Cindy Crawford has surely been interviewed countless times in her 30-year career, but never by her own daughter, 14-year-old budding model Kaia Gerber.
To celebrate the release of her memoir, Becoming, the legendary supermodel, 49, sat down with Kaia (inside mama’s giant, Versace-filled closet!) for a sweet discussion, which revealed Crawford’s social media rules for her kids, the modeling advice she gives to Kaia, and how there is such a thing as too many hashtags.
On the modeling advice she gives to Kaia…
Crawford began by telling Kaia, “Fortunately, you’re still at a point where you’ll listen to me [laughs]. Especially when it comes to something like modeling.” But her look-alike daughter replied with the obvious: “Who else knows better?! Your experiences have allowed me to enter the industry with more confidence.”
Nevertheless, the icon’s top priority is making sure that both of her kids (she also has son Presley, 16) are—and stay—happy. “Your dad [Rande Gerber] and I want you to be happy — whatever that may mean — so if modeling is something you like and want to continue, I can provide a road map and help you make good choices,” she told her daughter. “But we also want to preserve your childhood and let you be a 14-year-old when you’re 14. There’s no rush.”
On how she showed Kaia her book before anyone else…
“As much as I did the book for my fans who grew up with me, it’s also for those people to share with their daughters the same way I’ve shared it with you,” Crawford said. “Which is why, throughout the process, your opinion was very important to me.”
Kaia added, “Most people only know you through your photographs, so to read what you have to say about them is exciting. The images may be iconic, but until now nobody has heard the stories behind them from your point of view.”
Crawford had to stop at that. “Did I pay you for this?” she laughed. Not missing a beat, Kaia replied, “You can, later!”
On why you need to show your real face on Instagram…
Kaia may have inherited her mother’s gorgeous looks and incredible hair, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t feel the pressure to appear perfect. “People expect you to be doing something cool all the time. In a normal life, that’s not happening!” she said. “If you only share your best pictures, or your Facetuned self, the thought of people seeing you as you truly are can be scary.”
Her mom agreed. “That’s not unlike fashion photography, which is all about details like where the light is or which frame the photographer picks,” Crawford noted. “But now people consider those in their everyday lives. Sometimes they can be so worried about getting the perfect image to post that they forget to live in the moment.”
But there is such a thing as too many hashtags!
“…Your father and I have always talked to you and your brother, Presley, about [social media] appropriateness, and you’re both good at checking before doing something that might not make us proud,” Crawford told her look-alike child. “I can’t say the same — I know you’ve been embarrassed when I use too many hashtags!”
On how even Crawford doesn’t #WakeUpLikeThis…
“Once you said something like, ‘Even I don’t wake up looking like Cindy Crawford,'” Kaia said to her mom. “Unless they’re superhuman, nobody’s going to look perfect all the time.”
“You’ve seen it firsthand!” Crawford quipped, laughing. “By the way, that’s how you’ll know when you find the right husband — when he thinks you look your best the way you wake up, without doing your hair, makeup, or anything.”
To read the complete interview between Crawford and her daughter, head on over to The Thick.
