Last month, it was announced that Kaia Gerber, daughter of supermodel Cyndy Crawford, had landed a contract with the top agency IMG. Yet Sofia is not alone, with a growing crop of underage celebrity offspring ready for their close-up.
Still children, they haven't the maturity to sift out what matters, what to guard against, who to disbelieve, which men have only one thing in mind.' 'Girls are at their most vulnerable in their early teens. She adds: 'My first thought was that I wouldn't want my own daughter exposed to that sort of pressure. In an interview with Vanity Fair, the supermodel revealed she'd had a nervous breakdown and was prescribed Valium because of the pressure to strip off and adopt sexual poses at a young age.įormer Sixties supermodel Sandra Howard also says she was shocked to learn how young Sofia was when she saw her at the Dior show - and fears she will lose out on a 'whole chunk of her childhood overnight'. Even Kate Moss, 41, has admitted that starting modelling at 14 - the same age as Sofia - took its toll. Still children, they haven't the maturity to sift out what matters, what to guard against, who to disbelieveĭunja Knezevic, a former teenager model who is a campaigner for better regulation of the industry, has called this trend 'paedophilic'. Of course, very young girls aren't unusual in fashion. Simons was captivated by Sofia and, unable to get her out of his mind, a few weeks later got in touch to recall the teenager to Paris, where she was put under an exclusive contract. However, Sofia and her chaperone passed the time by visiting the Dior store where they spotted the brand's creative director, Raf Simons, and approached him for a picture. When she arrived in the city to be taken on by a local agency and it was revealed she was only 14, they turned her away, saying she was too young. After her eye-catching height and beauty led her to being signed by a modelling agent in Israel, she was immediately booked for a shoot in Paris. At night, her mother sleeps on the couch while Sofia sleeps on a mattress.īut there is, of course, a modern twist to this fashion fairy tale. While her mother is out working, Sofia collects her siblings after school, makes their meals and does the laundry. These girls have no hips or breasts so they make anything look elegant