Gigi Hadid isn’t done fighting against body shamers. After an impassioned Instagram message in September, Hadid, 20, landed her first-ever cover for British Vogue and spoke about why she loves her body no matter what haters say.
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“I’m an athletic person. But I love my body because I know what it’s been through to be what it is,” she said in the January issue of British Vogue. “And honestly I’m not going to change for someone that is depressed about their life.”
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The model, who is the face of Maybelline, Guess, and Tommy Hilfiger, among other top brands, also declared that she’s here to stay, and that every body type deserves its space in the spotlight. “The Victoria’s Secret Angels aren’t going anywhere; I’m not going anywhere; plus-sized models aren’t going anywhere,” Hadid, whose first Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show appearance will air on CBS on Dec. 8, said.
Though social media commenters incited her first body image rant on Instagram, she hasn’t given up on the platform. In fact, she has 9.2 million Instagram followers, and she’s committed to showing her real life on her page. “I don’t change anything about myself — what I post just works,” she said. “When people are different on social media than they are in real life, it becomes forced. Cara [Delevingne] was never scared of being weird.”