Kaia Gerber Doesn’t See the Cindy Crawford Resemblance Everyone Else Does: “I’m Not Even Close”

For decades, the public has drawn parallels between Kaia Gerber and her legendary mother, Cindy Crawford. From matching beauty marks to similar bone structure and runway poise, the comparisons have been relentless and largely affectionate. Yet in a candid new interview with Yahoo published August 5, Gerber revealed a surprising truth: she doesn’t see it herself. “It’s an honor when people tell me I look like my mom. I wish I did,” the 24-year-old said. “I think even on my best days, I’m not even close.” The admission offers a rare glimpse into the internal experience of growing up as the daughter of one of fashion’s most recognizable faces, where external perception and self-image exist in perpetual tension.

Gerber’s comments coincide with her latest high-profile role in Ryan Murphy’s The Shards, a television adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’s novel that premiered with an official launch skate party at Moonlight Rollerway on August 5. In the series, Gerber plays Susan Reynolds, a popular cheerleader at an elite Los Angeles prep school whose glamorous senior year is shattered by the emergence of a serial killer targeting teens. The show explores identity, obsession, jealousy, and the hidden dangers beneath American adolescence, a thematic departure from Gerber’s modeling career but one that leans heavily on visual nostalgia. Her character’s ‘80s-inspired styling, complete with voluminous curls and face-framing layers, has only intensified public comparisons to Crawford’s iconic era.

The hairstyle, in particular, sparked a mother-daughter conversation that blended humor with historical revelation. During production, Gerber called Crawford to ask whether she really invested so much time in her hair before high school. “I was like, ‘There’s no way you were doing your hair like this before high school,’” Gerber recalled. Crawford’s reply? “Oh, yes, I was. I was waking up at 4 a.m., putting the curlers in.” Gerber laughed at the contrast: “I’ve just never put that much effort into anything I’ve ever done... just at all.” The anecdote underscores not only generational differences in beauty labor but also Gerber’s self-awareness about her own relationship to performance and image, one that is more relaxed, perhaps more modern, than the meticulous craftsmanship that defined her mother’s superstardom.

Despite her insistence that she doesn’t resemble Crawford, Gerber deeply respects her mother’s legacy. In a 2023 exclusive interview with PEOPLE alongside Crawford, she expressed admiration for several iconic looks, including the red Versace low-back gown Crawford wore to the 1991 Oscars while married to Richard Gere, her six-year tenure hosting MTV’s House of Style, and the legendary 1992 Pepsi commercial. Yet Gerber also articulated a nuanced boundary: “Some things are just so good you don’t even want to touch them,” she said. “I think some of those moments I’m just like, ‘Leave them there.’” This reverence suggests that while she may not see physical similarity, she fully grasps the cultural weight of her mother’s archive and understands that homage requires restraint as much as replication.

Crawford, for her part, has embraced collaborative reinterpretation over strict preservation. When asked about recreating the Pepsi commercial, she responded enthusiastically but with conditions: “I definitely think the Pepsi thing would be fun... But if they’re going to do her it has to be the iconic commercial, but a new version of that.” This openness reflects a mature understanding of legacy as living rather than static. It also signals trust in Gerber’s ability to honor the past without being consumed by it.

Ultimately, Gerber’s denial of resemblance may be less about optics and more about autonomy. In an industry that often reduces second-generation talent to echoes of their predecessors, asserting difference is an act of self-definition. She can acknowledge the honor of comparison while insisting on her own distinctness. She can wear ‘80s curls without becoming a replica. She can love her mother’s icons without needing to inhabit them. As The Shards introduces her to audiences in a dramatic new light, Kaia Gerber is not stepping out of Cindy Crawford’s shadow so much as carving a space beside it one where respect and individuality coexist, even if the mirror doesn’t always agree.