Chris Colls / ELLE
More than five years ago, Gigi Hadidwas known as former model and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star’s Yolanda Hadid‘s daughter. Actually, Yolanda Hadid‘s daughter, to be precise.
Now a supermodel, Gigi expresses frustration when people credit her success to her family connections, according to ELLE.
“I mean, I understand it. I come from privilege, and I recognize my privilege,” the 23-year-old told the magazine in a cover interview for its March 2019 issue. “But because my mom was on a TV show, people think that my whole childhood was fame. It absolutely was not. My mom was a model. She moved to the States when she was 16 to send money back to her family in Holland. My dad was a refugee and worked his way up in every way. I work hard to honor my parents.”
In 2016, Yolanda dropped ex-husband David Foster‘s last name and took on that of her first ex-husband and her children’s father, Mohamed Hadid. She also left The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Meanwhile, her and Mohamed’s younger daughter and Gigi’s 22-year-old sister, Bella Hadid, has also made a name for herself as a supermodel. Both women’s careers have flourished in recent years and they are now more famous than their mother.
In her interview with ELLE, Gigi was asked if she and Bella are competitive.
“Bella and I have very different styles,” she replied.
“A job that wants Bella is not a job that I’m the right look for, so I never took that personally,” she added. “In a lot of ways, she inspires me. We learn from each other.”