Bella Hadid has come a long way since her modeling debut. She’s walked the biggest fashion runways, appeared on endless magazine covers and has compiled a lengthy résumé of partnerships, including a gigs as the face of Dior beauty and Nike. And while she has the work to show for her success, she wants the world to know that it didn’t come as easy as it seems, which she’s opening up about in InStyle‘s August issue.
“I’m not saying I don’t love my job, but people think modeling is a bullsh— thing to become more famous,” she tells InStyle. “I was 100 percent independent by the time I was 18, and I paid for my own apartment. That wasn’t because of my parents. I worked my ass off for two years.”
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Now, with years of modeling under her belt, Hadid’s wardrobe consists of the highest of heels and the most glamorous designers. But before she made it big, her mother Yolanda Hadid made sure she maintained a low-key lifestyle, as far as fashion was concerned.
“My mom was like, ‘Hell no, you’re not doing that,'” the model tells the mag of Yolanda’s guidance. “You are going to go to school and the barn, and if you want a custom pair of riding boots, then you can have that. But you don’t need 10 pairs of high heels because you don’t even wear high heels.'”
Her career has even brought one of her best friends, fellow model-of-the-moment Kendall Jenner, along with her on her journey through the industry. But the two didn’t meet backstage at a fashion show or on a shoot.
“That was before we started modeling,” she says of meeting Jenner. “I was probably 14 or 15. We met up and had sushi, and now we’re best friends. She’s a pretty significant human I met online.”
One downfall she’s come across through her fame? Social media. “Imagine that somebody is telling you that you’re a piece of sh— every day on social media,” she says. “You kind of feel like, ‘Well, am I a piece of sh—?’ You don’t really know.”
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