Gigi Hadid is getting candid.
In a new interview, she just revealed the many times she was told that she “didn’t have a runway body.”
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She may be a supermodel, but Gigi Hadid has had her fair share of body shamers.
Like the time people criticized her fluctuating weight after she walked the runway for Jeremy Scott and Bottega Veneta in 2018 show during New York Fashion Week.
In a series of tweets, Gigi went off on the haters.
“For those of you so determined to come up w why my body has changed over the years, you may not know that when I started @ 17 I was not yet diagnosed w/Hashimoto’s disease,” she began.
According to Mayo Clinic, Hashimoto’s disease is a condition “your immune system attacks your thyroid.”
“Those of u who called me “too big for the industry” were seeing inflammation & water retention due to that,” she continued.
“Over the last few years I’ve been properly medicated to help symptoms including those, as well as extreme fatigue, metabolism issues, body’s ability to retain heat, etc….”
“I was also part of a holistic medical trial that helped my thyroid levels balance out.”
Another time, she was told that she was “too thin” for runway modeling.
When this happened, she addressed the criticism in an Instagram post.
“Yes I have boobs, I have abs, I have a butt, I have thighs … Your mean comments don’t make me want to change my body.”
Now, in 2020, Gigi has addressed these concerns again.
During her cover story for the spring issue of i-D magazine, the model got super candid about constantly being told that she doesn’t have a runway body.
“[Jean-Paul Gaultier] was the first designer that let me walk on a runway in Paris, it was in his last ready-to-wear show,” she began.
“At the time, I was still starting out in my career, I was coming out of high school, I still had my volleyball body,” Hadid recalled.
“It was a body that I loved. I knew how hard I worked to have those muscles, to be curved in those places — I kind of miss it now. At the time, people were hard on me and tried to say that I didn’t have a runway body.”
She explained that it wasn’t just trolls who made her feel like she didn’t have a “runway body.” It was also stylists and designers.
Thankfully, everything changed for the better when she walked the runway for Jean-Paul Gaultier.
“So for Jean-Paul to have me at his last ready-to-wear show in 2015 — not only to have me, but also to put me in an outfit that didn’t cover a lot… like, there were still stylists or designers at that time who were putting me in their shows, but putting me something that really covered my body,” Hadid said.
“And so for him to make me feel like he wanted me to shine in that way, it really meant a lot to me as a young model.”
“And I know that he has done that for a lot of people,” the 24-year-old added.
During the interview, Gigi also talked about how it was her mom, “Real Housewives” star, Yolanda Hadid, who was her first mentor for modeling.
“Obviously, the first person was my mom,” she said.
“And that wasn’t just in the industry – she always allowed me to be creative growing up, she had such a positive impact and always encouraged me to express myself in any way, whether that was cooking, drawing, trying to learn how to sew or letting me use and break her cameras.”
“But I think as I’ve got older in my career, I’d say Carine Roitfeld and Stephen Gan. I call them my fashion fairy godparents. Then there’s my manager Luiz.”
She continued:
“Tommy Hilfiger giving me four seasons of a collection was insane. To put that kind of trust in someone – it gave me so much confidence in myself and that meant so much to me.”
She then explained the things she does and the places she goes to escape the fast-pace of the fashion industry.
“I think my personal space for that is the farm. I think that everyone needs a place, or a space or a moment to themselves where they are able to do what they love and find their thing.”
“For me that’s the farm, and whether that’s doing a little oil painting in the morning and then doing a puzzle in the afternoon… I don’t know, it’s random things.”
She also likes to cook a lot for her loved ones, since it’s something that makes her feel so happy.
“What makes me happy is creating with, and for, other people. Those really special moments at work where you’re just like, “Wow, this is why I did this job.” I think that that’s the same feeling I get when I’m sitting around with friends, or painting or, or making the people I love dinner,” she said.
“I think just making something for other people, and making other people happy. It’s really fun and I try to create little moments like that in my life all the time.”
For more of Gigi’s interview, you can read it here .
