Kaia Gerber: ‘I didn’t want to be compared to my famous mum Cindy Crawford’

When your mum is global supermodel and era-defining sex symbol, Cindy Crawford, it can be hard to avoid comparisons.

That’s exactly what Kaia Gerber has been dealing with – and trying to avoid – in Ryan Murphy’s latest controversial TV drama The Shards, she told Metro.

The nine-part coming-of-age thriller series, an adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’s semi-autobiographical novel, follows Bret (Igby Rigney) as he navigates senior year at an elite prep school in Los Angeles in the 80s.

Bret’s trying to suss out the mysterious new student Robert Mallory (Homer Gere, son of Pretty Woman’s Richard Gere), who’s hiding secrets up his sleeve.

Kaia plays Susan Reynolds, the ‘it-girl’ of her year who seems to have it all. But she’s more complex under the surface, keeping her insecurities hidden behind lock and key.

Alongside jock Thom Wright (Graham Campbell), their group of hedonistic students find themselves alarmingly close to a serial killer who’s preying on their peers.

Thom Wright (Graham Campbell) and Susan Reynolds (Kaia Gerber) are in the popular group at school (Picture: FX) The young people navigate sex and identity in the nine-part series The Shards (Picture: FX)

Kaia, the daughter of Cindy and American businessman Rande Gerber, revealed to Metro how she found photos of her famous mum in the 80s sporting a hairstyle exactly like her character in The Shards.

‘My mum was a freshman in 1981, so there are images that I’ve seen of her with that exact hairdo in high school’, she said.

But despite their striking resemblance, Kaia originally wasn’t keen to embrace their similarities.

‘I didn’t wear my hair in a side part for so long because I didn’t want to get compared to my mum,’ she admitted.

‘And then I was like: “The only person that this hurts is myself.”‘

Kaia was reluctant to look too similar to her mum – but there’s no denying the likeness (Picture: Mike Marsland/Getty Images for Omega)

It’s not just their resemblance that’s striking – both Kaia and her mum started their careers as models, with Kaia booking her first gig with Versace aged 10.

Cindy, on the other hand, began her career at 16 after being featured by a local photographer in Illinois, where she grew up.

She went on to become a world-famous supermodel, working with top brands including Chanel to Balmain.

Like her daughter, she also enjoyed an acting career, starring in 1995’s Fair Game and making cameos in shows like Frasier and Cougar Town.

While Kaia might boast Cindy’s striking genetics, she isn’t the only member of The Shards cast with a famous doppelgänger.

Before The Shards, Graham starred in the film Late Fame with Willem Dafoe and Greta Lee (Picture: FX) Evan first worked with Ryan Murphy in 2011 when he starred in the first season of American Horror Story, Murder House (Picture: Matt Winkelmeyer/FilmMagic)

Graham, who rocks luscious blonde curls in The Shards, has drawn parallels with American Horror Story star Evan Peters, a frequent Ryan Murphy collaborator.

‘I should be so lucky! Those are big shoes to step into, Mr Evan Peters,’ Graham said about the actor who’s appeared in nine seasons of American Horror Story and won the Golden Globe for playing the lead in Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.

‘I guess I see it now, and I really appreciate it because I really admire that guy quite a bit,’ he added.

Evan is apparently not Graham’s only celebrity lookalike. He was told that he looked like Shawn Mendes when his hair was short and brunette, and was even mistaken for Timothée Chalamet at an SNL party when the Marty Supreme star hosted the show.

The Shards is available to stream on Disney Plus.

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