Kaia Gerber Says Mom Cindy Crawford Showed Her Videos of Models Falling Before Her First Runway Show

Kaia Gerber's model training involved some tough love.

The 22-year-old revealed that her mom, supermodel Cindy Crawford, showed her videos of models falling to prepare Gerber for her very first runway show.

On the Monday, April 8, episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the actress recalled the unorthodox way her mom coached her, telling host Jimmy Fallon that Crawford is “full of great advice.”

“I remember right before I was going to do my first-ever fashion show, she sat me down and had my whole family gather around and played me compilation videos of models falling,” Gerber said. “I think to be like, ‘This is the worst case scenario.’ And I was like, ‘I didn’t even know you could fall this many different ways.’”

She added, “Knock on wood, I haven’t ever fallen. Maybe she scared me enough that I didn’t fall.”

Gerber made her runway debut in Raf Simons’ Calvin Klein show during New York Fashion Week in September 2017. At just 16 years old, she walked the catwalk in yellow satin pants, a black-and-white oxford shirt and blue turtleneck. 

Crawford’s first runway appearance was for Donna Karan’s spring 1991 collection. She was 24 years old at the time.

Gerber first made waves as a model at 10 years old when she modeled for Versace. On The Tonight Show, she shared that the gig was “weeks apart” from her first acting role — playing “tree number two” in a community theater production of The Wizard of Oz.

“I was so disappointed because I wanted the role that every young girl dreams of having; obviously, tree number one,” she joked.

Gerber has since landed even more impressive acting roles. In 2023, she starred alongside The Bear’s Ayo Edebiri in the teen comedy Bottoms. She’s also appeared in American Horror Story and its spin-off, American Horror Stories. Currently, Gerber appears among an all-star cast (including Kristen Wiig, Laura Dern and Carol Burnett) on the Apple TV+ series Palm Royale.

As the daughter of Crawford and Rande Gerber, Casamigos founder and former model, the star has opened up about being referred to as a “nepo baby.” 

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“I don’t think it’s a topic that will go away, so I’ve clearly reached a point of acceptance,” she said in a February 2024 interview with WSJ. Magazine.

“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.”

Gerber continued, “I can actually ask my parents [for] advice on career things, on business things. That’s very rare, to have parents who are in the same industry or career as you, whose advice you actually can trust.”