Gigi Hadid

Gigi Hadid - Quick Facts

Profile Overview of Gigi Hadid

Jelena Noura "Gigi" Hadid ( JEE-jee hə-DEED; born April 23, 1995) is an American fashion model and television personality. In 2016, she was named International Model of the Year by the British Fashion Council. Throughout her career, Hadid has made at least 50 appearances in international Vogue. Models.com ranks her as one of the "New Supers". Since 2017, Hadid has been one of the highest-paid models in the world, earning $20 million.

This profile of Gigi Hadid covers Early Life and Family Background, 1997–2012: Early work, 2013–2016: Breakthrough, 2017–present: Further recognition and brand collaborations and Activism.

Born in Los Angeles, Hadid began her career as a child model for Baby Guess. She signed to IMG Models in 2013 and made her New York Fashion Week debut the next year. She has appeared in numerous high fashion campaigns and editorials, and is a spokesmodel for Maybelline.

Early Life and Family Background of Gigi Hadid

Jelena Noura Hadid was born on April 23, 1995, in Los Angeles, California, to Palestinian-American real-estate developer Mohamed Hadid and Dutch former model Yolanda Hadid (née van den Herik). Through her father, she claims descent from Daher al-Umar, Prince of Nazareth and Sheik of Galilee. Her younger sister, Bella, and younger brother, Anwar, are also models. Also, she has two older paternal half-sisters, Marielle and Alana. In May 2025, Hadid and her sister Bella announced in a statement that they have a younger half sister through their father named Aydan Nix. They shared that they connected with Nix in late 2023. Nix was welcomed by her mother, Terri Hatfield Dull, after a brief relationship with Mohamed that came after his divorce from Yolanda. She and her siblings were raised on a ranch in Santa Barbara. The family moved to Beverly Hills after ten years.

Hadid has stated that "Gigi" was a childhood nickname that was also used by her mother while growing up in the Netherlands. She began using it in school to avoid confusion with a girl in her class named "Helena".

In 2013, Hadid graduated from Malibu High School, where she was captain of the varsity volleyball team, as well as an equestrian. After high school, she moved to New York City to study criminal psychology at The New School. She suspended her studies to focus on her modeling career.

1997–2012: Early work of Gigi Hadid

Hadid's modeling career began when she was two years old, after Guess co-founder Paul Marciano discovered her. She appeared in Baby Guess ads before stopping to concentrate on school. She returned to modeling in 2011 and then resumed working with Marciano, becoming the face of a 2012 Guess campaign. As an adult, she has shot three campaigns with Guess.

2013–2016: Breakthrough

After signing to IMG Models in 2013, Hadid made her New York Fashion Week debut in February 2014, walking for Desigual. In the same month, she made a high fashion break, appearing on the cover of Carine Roitfeld's CR Fashion Book. On July 15, 2014, she starred alongside actor and model Patrick Schwarzenegger in designer Tom Ford's Eyewear autumn/winter campaign. She co-hosted the Daily Front Row's Fashion Media Awards event held in New York City on September 5, 2014. She has also starred in campaigns for Tom Ford F/W 2014, Tom Ford Velvet Orchard Fragrance and Tom Ford Beauty 2014. She was featured on the cover of Galore magazine in 2014.

Hadid appeared in the 2015 Pirelli Calendar. Also in 2015, she was the brand ambassador for Australian fashion swimwear label Seafolly. In January 2015, she was named the Daily Front Row's Model of the Year and a Maybelline brand ambassador. In March 2015, she and her then-boyfriend Cody Simpson were featured as a part of fashion photographer Mario Testino's project "Towel Series". By May 2015, she had walked for designers Marc Jacobs, Chanel, Michael Kors, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Max Mara. She appeared in the music video for Taylor Swift's song "Bad Blood", released the same month. Hadid starred in another music video for Scottish DJ Calvin Harris's song "How Deep Is Your Love" released in August the same year. She has made several appearances alongside her sister Bella. In December 2015, she made her first appearance at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.

Hadid has appeared on the covers of Vogue (United States, Paris, Italy, Britain, Japan, Spain, Australia, Brazil, the Netherlands, Germany, China), Schön!, Numéro, Allure, W Magazine and Teen Vogue, as well as The Wall Street Journal, Elle (Canada), Dazed and Harper's Bazaar (United States, Malaysia). She has shot editorials for VMAN, Elle (United States), Grazia, Cleo, Vogue, Sports Illustrated, Paper Magazine, Vanity Fair and V Magazine. She has starred in campaigns for Guess, Versace, Penshoppe, Balmain F/W 2015, Topshop, Max Mara, and Stuart Weitzman.

In 2016, she walked for Versace, Chanel, Elie Saab, Fendi, Marc Jacobs, Anna Sui, Miu Miu, Balmain, Diane Von Furstenberg, Tommy Hilfiger, Fenty x Puma, Isabel Marant, and Giambattista Valli. In January 2016, she became the global brand ambassador for Tommy Hilfiger, fronting campaigns for underwear, apparel and fragrances. In April 2016, Hadid starred in an interactive campaign including a commercial for the BMW M2. She hosted the 2016 iHeartRadio Much Music Video Awards in Toronto on June 19, 2016. She co-designed a capsule collection with Tommy Hilfiger called Gigi by Tommy Hilfiger, which was released in the fall of 2016 at New York Fashion Week. During the Fall 2016 Fashion Weeks in New York, Milan and Paris, she opened five shows and closed seven. In October, her boot collection for Stuart Weitzman titled the Gigi Boot was revealed, and she became a brand ambassador for Reebok, fronting the #PerfectNever campaign.

On November 20, 2016, she hosted the American Music Awards alongside Saturday Night Live alum Jay Pharoah. She received backlash for an impression of Melania Trump during the show, and later apologized. In December 2016, she made her second appearance at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, earning her wings for the first time, and in the same month she won the award for International Model of the Year at the British Fashion Awards, presented to her by Donatella Versace.

2017–present: Further recognition and brand collaborations

Hadid started off the Spring/Summer campaign season starring in Fendi and Moschino campaigns. She also was the face of the S/S 2017 campaign for Max Mara accessories, Stuart Weitzman and DSQUARED. The second Tommy Hilfiger and Hadid ready-to-wear collection was presented in February 2017 for the Spring season. She was the photographer of the Versus (Versace) Spring/Summer 2017 campaign which featured her then-boyfriend, singer Zayn Malik, and model Adwoa Aboah. She also photographed a special summer edition of V Magazine titled Gigi's Journal, which featured Polaroids of fashion industry colleagues, celebrities and close friends.

Source: adapted from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigi_Hadid), text available under CC BY-SA 4.0.