Cindy Crawford's 21-year-old daughter opens up about her struggle with the globe-trotting lifestyle that left her isolated at the beginning of her modelling career.
- Jan 27, 2023
AceShowbiz - Kaia Gerber seeks help from a therapist after her globe-trotting modelling career left her "lonely." The 21-year-old model daughter of '90s catwalk icon Cindy Crawford, 56, began modelling in her teens but said she isolated herself at the beginning of her work as she fell into the "trap" of believing the industry was full of back-stabbing.
Now refusing to ever "sacrifice" her mental health for her work again, she is glad she was able to "reconnect" with herself and her family during the Covid lockdowns. "I fell into the trap of believing (modelling is full of catfighting)," Kaia, who is dating "Elvis" actor Austin Butler, 31, told the February issue of Elle magazine.
"Especially at that time (when she started modelling), I was really shy. I kept to myself, and I was nervous. You're coming from high school girls who are so scary, and so I assumed that that would be the culture."
Kaia added that, despite going on to make friends in the modelling business, her travels left her "lonely" when she was away from home and she says despite her youth she already feels "like I've lived a whole life already."
She added about how the Covid lockdowns changed her perspective on life and work, "Honestly, it came at a time when I really needed it, and it was a really difficult time in the world, but I really had reached a point where I just felt like I was falling out of love with (modelling), and I didn't know that you could ask for a break."
"I was forced to stop, and I realised how badly I needed one. When you're being told what to do every day, you don't have time to sit and reflect. But I had gone through so many changes and had so many massive things happen to me over the years that I was modelling."
"I had four or five years of processing to do. I felt so lucky that I got to be with my family because I'd spent so much time away from them, and I realised I had so much guilt about missing birthdays and things. I had been travelling since I was a teenager, and so I got to develop an adult relationship with my family."
"I developed so much deeper relationships in my life, and also a connection to myself. When you're forced to sit with yourself, all of a sudden, you're aware of all the stuff you haven't dealt with. There wasn't communication happening between me and myself, and I felt out of body sometimes."
"Once I developed that, I was like, 'This isn't something I want to give up.' My personal life and my mental health are not something I'm willing to sacrifice for my job ever again. Right now, I'm getting to work at home, which is a beautiful thing, and not travelling all the time. I come home, and I'm with my dog. I have friends, and I'm cooking dinner. I see my therapist, and I see my family."
