Bella Hadid Recalls ‘Enormous Pressure’ In Early Modeling Career
Palestinian model Bella Hadid is one of the cover stars for Vogue Magazine’s September 2021 issue, alongside Lourdes Leon, Kaia Gerber, Precious Lee, Anok Yai, Ariel Nicholson, Sherry Shi and Yumi Nu.
Hadid, who made her runway debut aged 17, opened up about the pressure she felt to publicly project a wild image early in her modeling career.
“It’s like there were two Bellas — me, this person in the process of figuring out who she was, and ‘Bella Hadid’ the alter ego, who was, I dunno, a (redacted) who goes out every night (sic),” she told the magazine.
“I have insane social anxiety! Partying is not my thing, but I felt enormous pressure to project that image because I assumed that’s all people wanted from me,” she added.
However, she revealed that she is able to live more authentically now. “I don’t want to live in that box. I definitely feel like I’m allowed to speak,” she said.
It is not the first time that the catwalk star, who is now one of the highest paid models in the world, has opened up about her social anxiety.
The 24-year-old, who is the daughter of property developer Mohamed Hadid and “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Yolanda Hadid, also previously talked about constantly being compared to her older sister, Gigi, who is also a supermodel.
She said that she found the comparisons she had to endure particularly challenging because they have such different personalities. Bella described Gigi as “very bubbly” and “very 0ut-there,” while she considers herself “always very reserved.
“I would literally start crying and shaking if I had to do interviews at red carpet events. It was really nerve-racking and it’s scary,” said the model on a 2018 episode of her mother’s reality show “Making a Model.”
The model said she would occasionally “blackout” while she was walking a runway. “I would come out and be like, ‘Oh well I guess it’s over,’” she recalled.
Her symptoms eventually alleviated as she began working more and interacting with people regularly, Bella said.
“You’re like, ‘OK, I guess it’s my job, I have to do it.’”