Gigi Hadid Claps Back At Those Questioning Her Palestinian Roots
“I’m as Palestinian as I am Dutch”
At an event in Sydney, Australia, where Gigi Hadid just landed on Thursday to kick off media coverage of her new Reebok collab, she answered questions about her upbringing and identity with a type of candor we rarely see from the supermodel set.
According to Daily Mail she said in response to those who are suspect if her fame is deserved, “My dad was a refugee. My mom was on a farm, went to New York, and worked to send money back to her family…They’ve given me a life because of their hard work, and I work hard to honor that.”
It’s worth noting that despite coming from very little, her father went on to become one of the world’s most well-known real estate developers and her mother was a model who used to be on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
Gigi also spoke on how the media has tried to erase her and her siblings’, Bella and Anwar Hadid’s, Arab identities. She said: “I’m as Palestinian as I am Dutch. Just because I have blonde hair, I still carry the value of my ancestors, and I appreciate and respect that.”
Hadid also went on to discuss her experience as a mixed-race woman, saying: “I feel like when you’re mixed-race, when you come from two different worlds, you get to see how both sides treat each other, and you feel like the bridge of those two sides.”
Watch BTS footage from Bella Hadid’s October 2018 cover shoot with Harper’s Bazaar Arabia.