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Why it's no surprise that Cindy Crawford's daughter is entering the modelling world

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Image: Modern Hearts

Cindy Crawford and husband Rande Gerber's daughter, Kaia Gerber already has 131k followers on Instagram. And, guys, she's only 13-years-old.

The same goes for many celeb kids of course. Until 2013 none of us even knew who Ireland Baldwin was, and now she's on everyone's lips.

Last year Vanity Fair wrote about how important the last name has become. In the '80s and '90s, models like Cindy Crawford and Naomi Campbell only needed to rely on their first names. Now, the currency has changed to where the young models of today are entering the world of modelling by riding the coattails of their famous parents. Kaia Gerber, Kendall Jenner, Lily-Rose Depp, Romeo Beckham, Rafferty Law, Patrick Schwarzenegger and so the list goes on...

That's why it came as no surprise to me when I heard that Kaia has been signed to IMG modelling agency.

She recently shared some of her shoot pics, taken with famed-photographer Steven Meisel, on her Instagram.

Kaia was decked-out in full Versace as she posed for high-fashion mag, Carine Roitfeld's CR Fashion Book.

I remember a few years back, Cindy Crawford's then 10-year-old little Kaia did her much-publicized first modelling gig for the the young Versace range, designed by Donatella Versace. Already we knew that this girl, basically the spitting-image of her mother, could be a top model if she wanted to be.

But according to the Mail Online, after doing this shoot, her supermodel mom said that she wants Kaia to give her life in front of the camera a bit of a rest until she's a bit older. Well, that worked out well then - an entire three years.

Crawford apparently told the Daily Telegraph that she didn't want Kaia to wear make-up or be photographed looking older than she is. Sorry Cindy, I think your worst fears have been realised...

Unless I didn't get the thigh-high boots memo when I was thirteen?

And let's consider the beautiful 16-year-old daughter of Vanessa Paradis and Johnny Depp, Lily-Rose Depp. Already she has been featured in a Chanel's most recent Haute Couture fashion show in Paris (as one of the roulette players on set); and has since been  seen modelling in a music video for rapper Rejjie Snow.She was also just named the new Chanel ambassador.

In the past, a lot of famous moms and dads have said that they don't want their kids to become models until they're much older. The Huffington Post once reported that Dutch beauty, Doutzen Kroes  said that she will teach her daughter to have different aspirations than modelling. That she will tell her daughter that she's smart instead of pretty.

While others like the Beckhams were rather quick to throw their kids in the lion's den. According to the Mirror, at 12-years-old Romeo is already making R871 062 (£45,000) a day for his modelling work - most notably for Burberry. 

I always wonder, would models be models or would Hollywood actors really be actors if the industry wasn't as glamorous, as big of an ego boost and as lucrative? I think not.

The thing is, it is easier for the Kendall's and the Lily-Rose Depp's of this world to enter glamorous careers because of their famous names. Celeb kids also tend to be more than mildly attractive, because let's face it, unattractive people often get bounced in Hollywood.

Problem is, we still value compliments on our physical appearance more than on how smart we are. All these celeb kids are gorgeous, and so, they blindly enter the modelling or acting world because they needn't be discovered. They already had one foot in the door - even from birth - because of their famous parent(s).

But why not opt to become the world's most renowned and, yes and, drop-dead-gorgeous plastic surgeon, Kaia? Why didn't Kendall or Kylie or any of the K-clan kids follow in Robert Kardashian's footsteps to become a lawyer?

I just find it so incredibly boring that beautiful celeb kids choose to enter the same industry. Throw us a curve-ball, ag toe man.

The "my mom was an actor so I guess I'll be a model" mentality is not even a conscious one I think. It has become such an expected, ingrained and accepted mindset, that we have forgotten to value careers that actually take years to build.


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