Sizzling Hot Models Who Followed In Their Famous Parents' Footsteps
We hear a lot about nepotism in Hollywood, but actors (and directors and writers and so on) are not the only ones who capitalize on their familial connections. This happens all the time, from the doctor dad who calls a friend to get his daughter a prestigious medical fellowship to the aspiring mortgage broker who gets hired because his aunt is the boss. Heck, even a couple of American Presidents have been so-called "Nepo Babies." But though real estate agents and lawyers might be giving their kin a leg up all over the world, it often strikes people differently when the rich and famous do it.
Even if a famous person does not help their child along the way, their name, reputation, or even likeness might offer a helping hand into showbiz. This is especially true in modeling, where good genes are required for the job and deep-rooted connections can evoke endless loyalty. We could not possibly list every genetically gifted celebrity relative who has taken to modeling, which means we eliminated from our list all of those models whose parents are famous for something else, like acting or music. That includes models like Kendall Jenner, Ellery Harper, Meadow Walker, Dylan and Paris Brosnan, Cordell Broadus, Iris Law, Eve Jobs, and many more.
Instead, we focused on people whose parents also modeled — which means we also skipped extended relatives, like Christy Turlington's successful model nephew, James. In no particular order, here are some of the hottest models who followed in their famous parents' footsteps.
Gigi and Bella Hadid are two of today's biggest models — and brother Anwar is a big deal too
One thing you will notice about this list is that there are a lot of siblings, because, again, good genes and connections go a long way. And when we talk about model siblings, it is impossible to do so without discussing the Hadids, especially Gigi and Bella. The three Hadid siblings have now surpassed what their mother Yolanda accomplished — we say this not to diminish her great career, but to emphasize her kids' astronomical success.
Before she was a Real Housewife of Beverly Hills, Yolanda was an in-demand model who worked all over the world. She was discovered by Eileen Ford at 16 after filling in for someone at a hair show in Amsterdam, and the rest is history. Yolanda modeled for 15 years before leaving it behind to raise her kids.
Now, all of those kids have achieved incredible heights in the industry she left. Bella and Gigi are two of the highest-paid models in the world. Gigi has been on more than 35 global Vogue covers, has walked the runway for shows like Chanel and Versace, and has been a Victoria's Secret Angel among other big accomplishments.
Younger sister Bella has done campaigns for fashion houses like Bulgari and Dior, was a part of the viral Coperni spray-on dress spectacle, and has also been a runway dynamo. Like Gigi, Bella has also been on the cover of Vogue dozens of times, including the "Big 4" editions. Their brother Anwar also models, and has done campaigns for Valentino, Tommy Hilfiger, and more.
With two model parents, Kaia and Presley Gerber were born to be models
We are sure their father Rande Gerber's name did not hurt Kaia Gerber and her brother Presley when they first entered the fashion world, considering that the Casamigos co-founder is himself a former model. But Rande is surely eclipsed by the powerhouse that is their mother, Cindy Crawford. Those kids were destined for the industry, and Kaia was on peoples' radars very early.
Kaia was signed by IMG in 2015 when she was only 13 years old. She made her runway debut in 2018 walking for Calvin Klein at New York Fashion Week, and has since walked for everyone from Valentino to Celine. Kaia's first Vogue Paris cover was with her mom back in 2016, but she got a solo cover two years later — a huge feat for anyone, let alone a 16-year-old.
Kaia has since been on many other covers and had campaigns with brands such as Alaïa and Alexander Wang. She even shot her first fashion campaign at age 10. Her brother Presley is catching eyes as well, and has done campaigns for Topman and Calvin Klein after first hitting the runway at 16 — but Crawford did not start as young. She was discovered in high school, but it was only after she dropped out of college to model full-time that she hit it big, quickly scoring the cover of Vogue after moving to New York City in 1986 (she was 20). From there, the magazine covers, runway shows, and fashion campaigns came flooding in, turning Crawford into one of the biggest supermodels of all time.
Lily-Rose Depp has become a Chanel girl, just like her mother
Though she gained most of her attention for her acting — particularly her work in the much-maligned HBO show "The Idol" — we still think of Lily-Rose Depp as, first and foremost, a model. And while dad Johnny Depp can surely dish out tips when it comes to appearing on screen, Lily-Rose also has a familial expert when it comes to modeling: her mother Vanessa Paradis.
Paradis also sings and acts, and she first rose to fame for her musical talent at age 14, but she is also a big-time model who has worked with Chanel for decades. She was even a muse for their 2023 haute couture collection. Her first ad for the brand was in 1991, and it is what helped her reach fame as a young model. It must be especially special for her that daughter Lily-Rose has not only become a model but is also a Chanel girl.
Lily-Rose scored her first fashion shoot back in 2015 when she was a 15-year-old who was still being referred to mostly as "Johnny Depp's daughter." That Oyster magazine shoot led to her runway debut the following year, at the Parisian Chanel Metiers d'Arts show — and by that time, she had already become a model for Chanel eyewear and a Chanel fragrance, Chanel No.5 L'Eau. She has been a part of many other Chanel campaigns since then, and become a frequent cover model as well. Amongst other shoots, she has covered Vogue Australia, Elle, and W Magazine.
Sailor Brinkley-Cook has big shoes to fill if she wants to reach her mom's heights
Were we to list the most famous prototypically Californian, girl-next-door models, Christie Brinkley would be at the top. At 69, she is no longer a "girl" so much as a seasoned pro, but she remains just as iconic. She looks incredible and still has the mega-watt smile, luscious blonde locks, and full cheeks that made her famous. That is likely why she was signed to IMG Models in November 2013, at the same time as her daughter Sailor Brinkley-Cook — a big deal for a woman in her 60s. She is still working today and has rebelled against the industry's notorious ageism.
Brinkley was discovered in the early 1970s, became the face of CoverGirl in 1976, and landed on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition three years in a row beginning in 1979. More commercial than some of her peers, she easily launched herself into other areas like publishing, acting, business, and humanitarianism. She did all of this while raising three kids, and her youngest, Sailor Brinkley-Cook, has now followed in her path.
Brinkley-Cook was 15 when was first signed by IMG, and around that time she shot her first photoshoot for Teen Vogue. She is not poised to end up on 500+ magazine covers like her mom, but she did land a 2023 campaign for Silk Nextmilk alongside fellow nepo babies Ella Travolta and Brooklyn Beckham to recreate their parents' ads.
Leni Klum is jugging modeling and college for interior design
Heidi Klum is known for hosting and executive producing "Project Runway," "Making the Cut," and "Germany's Next Top Model," as well as being a judge on "America's Got Talent" for six seasons. Before she started quipping "I'm sorry, you're out" to eliminated designers on "Project Runway," Klum was already a household name thanks to her incredible modeling career.
The German native began modeling in 1993, a year after winning a 25,000-person contest for a big modeling contract with Metropolitan Models. She has been on the cover of pretty much every major fashion magazine — as well as the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition — and spent 13 years modeling for Victoria's Secret (and was an "Angel" for most of those years, from 1999 to 2010).
Klum has four children — singer Seal fathered the three younger ones and also adopted Leni, the child Heidi was pregnant with when they got together. Heidi made Leni wait until she was 16 to start modeling, and even with her successfully blooming career, the now-19-year-old is balancing her modeling with college. We can't deny the nepotism, since Leni made her modeling debut on a Vogue Germany cover alongside her mother, but Leni has definitely been proving herself since she hit the scene. Though she lacks her mom's height (she's 5'4") and may therefore not be a highly coveted runway model, Leni takes a gorgeous photo. She has beauty deals with Dior and GHD and has covered magazines such as Harper's Bazaar Germany, Glamour Germany, and Flaunt.
Damian Hurley is a model just like his mom
The Daily Mail documented all of the ways Elizabeth Hurley's support helped her only child Damian become a model, but we think she it is those genes she passed along that have been the true help. From their wavy brown hair to their icy blue eyes (and basically every facial element in between), the pair look strikingly alike. And when your mom has modeled for Estée Lauder for decades, having her face is a great thing.
At 29, Elizabeth was already "old" for a model when she started modeling in 1995, but she has proven that age is nothing but a number. In addition to her work with Estée Lauder, Elizabeth has modeled for Lancel and Jordache and graced the cover of worldwide editions of Vogue more than a dozen times. She is also an accomplished actor and an active philanthropist.
Damian is only 21, and the industry operates differently for male models, but he is quickly becoming a known name in his own right. He started in 2019 with a photoshoot for makeup artist Pat McGrath and signed a contract with IMG in 2020. Damian — whose biological father, late millionaire Steve Bing, was not in his life — has since been in another Pat McGrath campaign and has been on the cover of Double Vision Magazine.
Ming and Aoki Lee Simmons pursued education while building their modeling careers
Both Ming and Aoki Lee Simmons began modeling for their mother Kimora Lee Simmons' brand Baby Phat as children. They could have jumped right into the deep end, but instead, the pair decided to attend college — Ming went to New York University, and Aoki to Harvard (both graduated in 2023). It is astounding that the women were able to balance attending such prestigious colleges while concurrently pursuing modeling — busting stereotypes in the process. "I would like to change the idea that you can't be smart and pretty, or you can't be smart and enjoy your looks or enjoy a creative, beauty- [and] fashion-based career," Aoki said in a 2022 TikTok video. Did we mention that she was accepted into Harvard at 16 and is taking the LSAT?
Aoki made her runway debut in 2021 (Baby Phat excluded) in a Pyer Moss show at Paris Couture Week, and has fronted a campaign for Tommy Hilfiger, while Ming has done ads for Solo Mio Swim and Skims. That said, they have giant shoes to fill if they want to catch up to Kimora, who was famously signed to an exclusive contract with Chanel when she was 13. When it comes to modeling, Kimora did it all — walked for brands like Valentino and Fendi, shot campaigns with Versace and Armani, graced the covers of too many magazines to list — and then there is that whole fashion empire she started. And we have not even mentioned their father, Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons.
Lila Moss Hack is represented by her mother Kate Moss's agency
Lila Moss Hack is the only daughter of supermodel Kate Moss and her ex-boyfriend Jefferson Hack, co-founder and creative director of Dazed Media. Often referred to simply as Lila Moss, the 20-year-old is quickly becoming one of fashion's next big things. It really is not surprising in the slightest, because not only did she inherit her famous mother's good looks, but Kate also signed Lila to her talent agency, the Kate Moss Agency, in 2018. Lila then landed a campaign with Marc Jacobs Beauty, and in 2020 she made her runway debut in a Miu Miu show. Lila landed her first British Vogue cover in 2022 — and here we should note that her mother has appeared on over 100 Vogue covers across the world, second only to Gisele Bundchen.
Lila has also appeared in campaigns for Calvin Klein, — the brand that helped make Kate famous after she signed with them in 1992 — Miu Miu, and Chanel. Time will tell if she has as much of an impact as her mom, although that may be hard to do. Kate's Calvin Klein ads are often credited with ushering in the waifish look in fashion, and though they were controversial, they made her the face of the "heroin chic" style. Over the years, she has modeled for everyone from Burberry to Versace, and she will go down in history as one of the world's finest models. She even changed the height standards in the industry, with her 5'7" frame opening doors for petite models.
All four of Jerry Hall's kids have modeled, to various degrees
Jerry Hall started modeling in her home state of Texas at 14, and soon after moving to Paris two years later in 1972, she was walking runways for brands like Yves Saint Laurent and Thierry Mugler. She scored her first big magazine cover in 1975 and, within two years, had accumulated 40 covers (and she was only 21!). That was around the time she began an affair with a married Mick Jagger, with whom she went on to have four children. Hall maintained her status as a top runway star well into the '90s and made a comeback in 2023 when she appeared in a Mugler H&M Campaign.
Hall and Jagger married in 1990 after more than a decade together, and they stayed married until 1999. All of their shared children have at least dabbled in modeling, and Hall is the only Vogue cover model to have more than one of her kids also cover the magazine. Daughter Georgia May is probably the most famous of the kids, as she signed her first modeling contract in 2008 and has been the face of Versace, Sunglass Hut, Mugler, Chanel, Rimmel London, and Hudson Jeans at various points in time. Oldest daughter Elizabeth has also had great success, shooting campaigns for Lancôme and Mango and serving as a brand muse for Redken. And while Hall's son Gabriel has only dabbled in modeling, her son James has appeared on the cover of Vogue Hommes and has modeled for brands like Burberry, Jimmy Choo, and Rag & Bone.
Kristen McMenamy is still modeling, at the same time as her daughter Lily
It is frustrating that Kristen McMenamy is not a household name outside of fashion circles, given how huge of a model she was in the 1990s. We can only imagine that it is because she was less commercial than the other big models of that era, like Cindy Crawford and Linda Evangelista. But when it comes to runway, McMenamy is the real deal — something that Harper's Bazaar credits to her unconventional and often androgynous look. In fact, McMenamy showed off her intriguingly odd look at a time when that wasn't in and turned heads when bleaching her eyebrows enhanced her unique beauty. The icon started her career in 1985 at age 18 and is still working regularly, appearing in multiple editions of Vogue in 2023 alone.
McMenamy beats to the tune of her own drum, but she still did a few things the conventional way, including getting married a couple of times and having children. She even stopped modeling for a while to raise her kids, one of whom — daughter Lily — is now a model herself. "I never really planned to model," Lily told Teen Vogue in 2013. "However, upon moving to Paris and contemplating possible jobs, I realized that fashion is a universe that has always intrigued me." The second-generation model made her runway debut in 2012 in a Yves Saint Laurent show and booked a big Marc Jacobs campaign the following year. Among others, she had modeled for Versace, Charles & Keith, and Delvaux.
Both of Mingus Reedus's parents have modeled for high fashion brands
Having one model parent is enough to get a foot into the industry, but having two is almost like a guaranteed fast track. That is not to discredit model Mingus Reedus — whose bone structure is so beautiful it would be a crime not to photograph it — but to acknowledge the people who gave him that face. We will start with his father, "The Walking Dead" star Norman Reedus, who most people know as an actor but who first modeled for brands like Prada and Levi's when he was younger. Norman dated Danish supermodel Helena Christensen for five years, and they had their only son Mingus in 1999. Mingus and his mother have appeared together in campaigns for Rag & Bone, Victoria's Secret, and Marcell Von Berlin.
One of the big '90s supermodels, Christensen started modeling at 9 years old and won the title of Miss Denmark as a teenager before landing her first of many Chanel campaigns and a British Vogue cover in 1990. The next year, she appeared in the iconic music video for Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" and became the face of Prada. She was one of the original Victoria's Secret Angels, has appeared on 18 Vogue covers, and walked the runway in one of Versace's most famous looks ever (for the 1992 bondage collection). Mingus is reportedly more interested in film and music than modeling, but that has not stopped him from walking runways for brands like Calvin Klein and Tom Ford or appearing on the cover of Vogue Hommes.
Anna Cleveland's mother Pat was a muse for Salvador Dali
Kids today might not know it, but model Pat Cleveland was a huge deal in the 1970s. She was discovered in the late 1960s but, because Vogue would not put her (a mixed-race model) on their cover, she left for Paris in 1971 and said she would not come back to the United States until the magazine put a woman of color on its cover. While British Vogue featured a Black cover model in 1966, American Vogue did not do so until 1974 when it featured Beverly Johnson, which indeed brought Cleveland back stateside. After her agent Eileen Ford told her she would never make it, Cleveland went on to become the world's first Black supermodel. She walked the runway for brands like Valentino and Yves Saint Laurent — and still walks the runway in her 70s, we should add — and has been on the covers of tons of magazines, including some alongside her daughter Anna.
Anna has become a successful model herself, despite some early doubts. "My mother is inspiring, but her legacy carried a lot of weight," Anna told Vogue in 2015. "Being her daughter, I thought, Is [modeling] her thing, or is this my thing? In many ways, it's been harder for me in this business because I have to distinguish myself." Anna did some modeling as a child, but it was not until her mid-20s that she gave modeling full-time attention. She is known for her expressive runway and has done campaigns for Lanvin, Bottega Veneta, Moschino, and more.
Maya Hawke is a third-generation model and a rapidly ascending actor
We know what you are thinking: Maya Hawke is an actor. And you are right, she is, but she is also a model — and that is how she started out in the entertainment business (she sings too!). While her role in "Stranger Things" upped Hawke's profile immensely, she only joined the show in 2019. By then, Hawke had already done some acting work, modeled for All Saints and Calvin Klein, and appeared in the pages of British Vogue. She had a good roadmap for how to get into modeling, too, considering her mother Uma Thurman landed her first international Vogue cover at 15, and her grandmother Nena von Schlebrügge was also a successful model in her heyday.
Hawke has been refreshingly candid about the advantages they, and her father Ethan Hawke, provide her. "It's very ordinary to pursue a career that your parents do, but when it's in the public eye it becomes a complicated thing," Hawke told British Vogue. "I am not in denial about the fact that if it weren't for them I wouldn't be here today. I've thought a lot about how to deal with that, and one way was to not take any opportunity unless I was absolutely positive that I'd earned every scrap of it." She may go the way of her mother, wherein her acting career one day eclipses her modeling, but for now, Hawke has a foot in multiple worlds. In the years since she started on "Stranger Things," the multi-hyphenate has shot campaigns for Prada, Calvin Klein, and Dior.
Peter Brant Jr. is not at his mother's level, but he has the face to be
One of the first times we noticed Peter Brant Jr. was when he and his mother, model Stephanie Seymour, made the gossip rags after they were photographed being overly affectionate on the beach, causing many to raise an eyebrow. Now signed with IMG Models, Brant has shot campaigns for Givenchy and Harper's Bazaar (with his mother and brother). His modeling has been somewhat overshadowed by his personal life — the socialite, whose dad is an uber-rich businessman and art collector, has gained press for his fashions, social status, and a 2016 arrest after some drunken bad behavior.
Alongside his late brother Harry, who overdosed in 2021, Brant also started a line of MAC products designed to be unisex and promote gender fluidity. The brothers had a strong role model in Seymour, who first got noticed after entering an Elite Model Management contest in 1983 when she was 15. Seymour went on to become a huge star, appearing on the covers of Vogue more than two dozen times — including the US edition's millennium issue featuring a who's who of top models — and is also known for being a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition model numerous times. She has also been in Playboy twice, been a muse for Alaïa, and signed a big contract with Estée Lauder at age 45. Seymour is still doing her thing at 55, appearing on the cover of WSJ Magazine's Spring Women's Fashion Issue in January 2023.