Karl Stefanovic's 16-year-old daughter makes huge career move: 'He backs me'

Karl Stefanovic is backing his 16-year-old daughter Willow all the way as she embarks on a career in the fashion industry.

In her first major photoshoot with Stellar magazine, Willow revealed that while she “didn’t get her fashionista gene” from her famous Today show host father, he’s all for her foray in the modelling world.

“He backs me 100 per cent as long as I’m happy,” Willow said.

Her proud dad added: “She doesn’t go into anything blindly, especially the fashion world. She’s a strong, independent young woman and wants to pursue lots of things in life. We love her spirit.”

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Willow, whose first name is Ava but has decided to use her middle name professionally, is Karl’s daughter whom he had with his ex-wife, Cassandra Thorburn.

Speaking about her life aspirations, Willow praised her mum as “the one who put in the hard yards to get me to this point”.

Karl Stefanovic and Cassandra Thorburn split in 2016 after 21 years of marriage.

Speaking to The Australian Women’s Weekly in 2018, Cassandra said: “Last year, I declared that Karl really was dead to me, a man I no longer know, but the children still have their father.

“The flip-side of that is I feel like we're dead to his family and almost anyone from our old life.

“There has been practically no contact. I feel like we've been discarded and disposed of, replaced by a whole new line-up of starters.”

Karl shot back at the claims, telling The Daily Telegraph‘s Confidential: “First and foremost, I’m a dad… and I’m not going anywhere. I love my kids.

“I don’t want my silence, or the fact that my children aren’t visibly front and centre with me for everyone to see, to be misinterpreted as absence. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

“It just means I want to protect them from scrutiny as much as I can. I’m their dad and I’m not going anywhere.”

Karl married Jasmine Yarbrough at the end of 2018 and the loved-up couple are now the parents to adorable two-year-old Harper May Stefanovic.

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