Victoria’s Secret Angel Romee Strijd got candid about not being selected to walk in the 2026 fashion show.
“I just hung up the phone [and] it’s a no, which is fine because rejection is part of modeling and that’s totally fine,” Strijd, 31, shared via TikTok on Monday, October 12, just days before the 2026 fashion show is set to take place on Sunday, October 18.
She went on to say that while the casting team thought she looked “great,” they didn’t think she would “fit in the show this year.”
Strijd continued while wiping a tear from her eye, “I was like, ‘What was the reason? I would love to have an explanation.’” Her agency told her that the casting team “wasn’t there yet” and that she had “been released,” which she said was news to her.
The supermodel shared that she felt “left in the dark” on the matter and that she doesn’t think she’s “gonna cast anymore in the future” because it left a bad taste in her mouth. “I don’t like the way I was treated,” she said, noting that she wants to keep “the positive memories” from years past.
In a separate TikTok on Monday, Strijd explained that she went to a casting call in September and “trained for it this summer.”
“I wanted to do the show again even after kids. It felt like the right timing,” she said. (Strijd shares daughters Mint, 5, and June 3, with her fiancé, Laurens van Leeuwen. The couple has been engaged since 2022.)
@romeestrijd
“I knew the casting director already. I went and I thought I was gonna know soon after if I was gonna do the show or not, but I didn’t hear anything for weeks,” she added. “I think I was on some sort of ‘maybe list.’ It’s Monday now, the show is on Sunday, and I still haven’t heard anything.”
Strijd continued to ask her agency for updates, but they told her she was still on the “maybe” list. “It’s been a little bit of a roller-coaster mentally for me, since I have to continue training, but I’m not sure if I’m gonna do it.”
“I wish I had a little bit more clearance,” she continued. “I think it’s gonna be a no but I also keep training because you never know — in fashion and modeling it’s all very last minute.”
Strijd walked in every Victoria’s Fashion Show from 2014 though 2018.
With this year’s catwalk event just days away, fans have been sounding off about the castings.
“Influencers doing the show but not the OG angels????? Insanity,” one social media user commented on Strijd’s video, while another wrote, “Honestly… if you don’t walk and they use influencers and nepo babies thats a [sic] absolute joke!!!”
