Kaia Gerber Says Acting Means “Accepting and Exploring Embarrassment”

But in moments like that Palm Royale scene, Gerber is also forging a new trail. Crawford drew crickets when she tried to launch an acting career with the 1995 flop Fair Game; Gerber, though, is an in-​demand presence on screens both large and small. What’s more, she knows exactly what you’re thinking when you watch her—the model-beautiful daughter of history’s most famous model—and she’s ready to beat you to the punch. “I kind of play with people’s perception of me and projections onto me,” says Gerber. “So to play a character that mirrors that in a lot of ways”—Palm Royale’s Mitzi is, yes, an aspiring model—“it was really a cathartic experience.”

When Palm Royale premiered in 2024, Joe Biden was the president, Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban hadn’t yet called it quits, and Mitzi was merely an innocent onlooker. This season, the character has grown: She’s an infiltrator, angling for power through an advantageous marriage. And she’s not the only one who’s found new footing. “I do see a different person this year,” says Gerber’s costar Kristen Wiig. “She has a self-confidence, a light inside of her that is allowing her to take chances and explore.”

Gerber is not just smart: She’s actually a nerd, an inquisitive bookworm with endless curiosity. (More on that later.) Just as importantly, she’s clever enough to use her famous parentage to her advantage.

“It’s so crucial to be able to make fun of yourself,” she says. “I truly believe that if you can’t laugh with everyone else—if you can’t laugh at yourself—life will be such a challenge for you.” The Nigerian British poet Caleb Femi may have put it best, says Gerber, paraphrasing his poetry collection The Wickedest: “You either laugh or you rot.”

Once upon a time, Gerber dreamed of dancing on a table in leg warmers. In elementary school she watched Fame; when asked to name her ultimate ambition, she answered, “I want to go to Juilliard.” But before the Malibu native could audition, she made her runway debut for Calvin Klein, wearing a black-and-white Western-style silk shirt with a blue turtleneck and bright yellow satin pants. Crawford, naturally, was watching from the front row.

Gerber was an instant sensation. “I kind of got swept up in it,” she says now. In the autumn-​winter 2020 season, an 18-year-old Gerber walked in 24 shows. Around the same time, an idea began to nag at her. “I was like, ‘Am I peaking right now? Is this the best it’s going to be?’ ” she says. “I’m just becoming an adult. What am I going to do?”