Kaia Gerber didn’t have the ‘life experience’ to take bus or fly alone when starting modeling career

She grew up with a supermodel mom and an entrepreneur dad.

And apparently living such an affluent life kept Kaia Gerber from having ‘life experience.’

The 19-year-old daughter of Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber said that she realized early on in her modeling career that she didn’t know how to handle small tasks like taking a bus taking a flight alone.

She told Vogue magazine as part of her first solo Vogue cover story: ‘I found myself in situations where I was, like, I actually don’t have the life experience that I need to handle this.

‘It could be something as small as knowing how to take the bus from the flight to the terminal. Or, I remember, when I started travelling alone, in Paris, my driver had to check me into my hotel room – I couldn’t even do it on my own.’

The catwalk star – who began her career at 13 and has walked the runway for designers such as Prada, Chanel, Fendi and Givenchy – said that she eventually learned the importance of asking others for help in addition to how to express herself.

She explained: ‘I started so young that people weren’t expecting me to have an opinion about things, and I was fine with that, because I didn’t feel comfortable enough in who I was.

‘But when I got a little older, I started to wait for someone, especially in interviews, to ask me something other than, “What are three items in your purse?” I was like, “You’re not asking Adam Driver that, right?” I was waiting to be invited to speak. Eventually, I invited myself. And that was a really freeing feeling.’  

Kaia has been dating Euphoria star Jacob Elordi, 23, for about a year and tells Vogue how she’s enjoying being in a secure and safe relationship.

‘Being able to be with someone I trust, where we don’t want anything from each other, having a safe, steady relationship like that, has really opened my eyes to the possibilities of love and what it feels like to love without conditions,’ she says. 

‘Lust is touching other people or wanting them, but love is really seeing someone.’ Kaia adds.

Their relationship blossomed during the pandemic and they were first spotted leaving a dinner at Nobu together in September, followed by numerous outings in New York.

The couple went Instagram official in the fall when they showed off their Halloween costumes. 

Before meeting Jacob, Kaia was in a brief relationship with SNL comedian Pete Davidson, 27, and while she doesn’t discuss the romance directly, she reflects on a time in her life when she was dating people who were wrong for her.

‘You know, I was doing fashion month, but I was so young I had kissed, like, only one person. I had never had a high school sweetheart or anything. And so I tended to date older people because those were the people I was around. 

‘And I got put in situations where one day I’d wake up and be like, How did I get here? I have no idea what I’m doing, and I need help. And being able to ask for that help was amazing. That’s what real growing up means, not being afraid to ask.’ 

Kaia was reported to be dating Davidson in the fall of 2019 and a few months later they split, with Davidson entering treatment to focus on his mental health.

When work suddenly stopped when the coronavirus hit last year, Kaia says it’s been a time of transition and learning to focus on her wellbeing.

‘I was always so concentrated on work, and suddenly that was gone. And so for the first time, I could no longer focus on everything outside,’ she says. ‘I was forced to go internal. Work was always a really easy excuse not to do that.’ 

Nowadays she splits her time between her parents’ home in Malibu spending time with mom Cindy, 55, and dad Randy Gerber, 59, and Jacob’s Hollywood Hills home.

Of her parents beach house, Kaia gushes about being lucky to spend her quarantine days there.

‘We have a sort of compound with a garden, and a big lawn, and the beach that we could go to every day. I’m not blind to the fact that we’ve been incredibly blessed.’