Gigi Hadid says people 'tried to say that I didn't have a runway body'
Gigi Hadid is a big hit in the modeling industry today, but her opportunities seemed limited — at least to others — when she began in the profession.
“At the time I was still starting out in my career, I was coming out of high school, I still had my volleyball body,” the 24-year-old told i-D Magazine. “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.”
Hadid said that, when she was cast, she was usually covered up. It meant a lot to her in 2014 when high-profile designer Jean Paul Gaultier sent her down the runway wearing very little.
Hadid faced criticism not from the industry but from the people looking in, after she lost weight over the next few years. She revealed in February 2018 that the changes in her body were the result of an autoimmune disease, and she appeared to dismiss rumors that they were caused by dieting or drugs.
Although stress & excessive travel can also affect the body, I have always eaten the same, my body just handles it differently now that my health is better. I may be “too skinny” for u, honestly this skinny isn’t what I want to be, but I feel healthier internally and (cont)
— Gigi Hadid (@GiGiHadid) February 11, 2018
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; those of u who called me “too big for the industry” were seeing inflammation & water retention due to that.
— Gigi Hadid (@GiGiHadid) February 11, 2018
In her new interview, Hadid explained that, eventually, she hopes to expand her focus to creating, one way or another.
“I think that as I get older... well one day I’ll start a family and I don’t know if I will always be modeling,” Hadid said. “I love the creative side of fashion, it’s so fulfilling. The people I work with make me so happy, I’m so lucky to be around them. But who knows? Maybe I’ll take up full time cooking!”
For now, she’s busy walking the runways; Hadid appeared in presentations for Versace, Fendi, Prada, Burberry and more in the past few months alone.
Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:
Drew Barrymore gets candid about body image: 'I have stood in my closet and just cried'
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