Gigi Hadid said she declines magazine cover offers so other models can be given the opportunity.- During an interview with InStyle, she explained that she mostly seeks out new experiences.
At just 26-years-old, Gigi Hadid has graced more than 35 of Vogue's international covers, earned a spot as one of the world's highest-paid models, and been deemed the Fashion Awards' model of the year.
Now, she wants to make sure the door is open for more green, budding models.
In an interview with InStyle on Wednesday, Gigi said she's turned down offers to appear on magazine covers in the hopes that they will be passed along to others.
"It's getting to this point in my career where I don't only have to take the jobs where I'm just selling clothes. Now I get to be like, 'What have I not done?'" Hadid said.
She continued, "There are magazines I say no to because I'd rather another girl have an opportunity to get that cover. I don't need to do the same cover again if someone else's career could skyrocket because of it."
More behind-the-scenes, creative opportunities appeal to Gigi, she explained. She tossed around the idea of one day starting a production company or working as a creative director.
"In the beginning of your career, you don't have the opportunity to do that," the model said.
The California native has been in front of cameras her whole life, modeling for Guess Kids when she was just a toddler. It's a profession that runs in the family: her mother Yolanda Hadid was a former top model, and her younger sister Bella Hadid works beside her as a high-fashion model.
In the cut-throat industry, Gigi told Instyle that one piece of her mother's advice has served her well: "There's always going to be people in the industry who are younger, prettier, up-and-coming. You have to be kinder and more hard-working."
The supermodel, who welcomed a daughter named Khai with her ex-boyfriend Zayn Malik in September 2020, said she doesn't necessarily consider herself "the prettiest or best model," but she is someone who is "nice to be around."
"Maybe that's what's kept me here for so long," she added.
With a following of over 72.3 million Instagram users and representation by IMG, a top agency, Gigi has a strong influence in the
She proved so in July 2021 by sharing an Instagram photo of the back of a woman's outfit, hailing the anonymous individual as her "NYC inspiration of the day." The post went viral on social media, and not long after, fans identified 23-year-old Cameroonian model Nänga Awasum as the woman in the photograph.
"It's the way @GiGiHadid would have changed my entire life if I was only facing the right way," Awasum tweeted.
Gigi responded: "You were facing the right way exactly where you were headed. Sunshine! Sending biiiiig love Nanga."
—Gigi Hadid (@GiGiHadid) July 15, 2021
The following day, Awasum said her "life completely changed overnight." Her interaction with Gigi led to an increasing number of bookings and multiple offers from agencies to represent her, she told E! News.