Bella Hadid: My dad ‘always prayed with us. I am proud to be a Muslim’
Bella Hadid covers the new issue of Porter Magazine and I love this cover so much. Is it weird that Bella might be my favorite of the Hadid sisters? Is it weird that I actually like both Gigi AND Bella without irony? Like, I used to only care about them in a “look at these two nepotism models, blah” way. But nowadays, I genuinely like them and I think they belong in the fashion world (Bella especially). Anyway, Bella chats with Porter about her split from The Weeknd, her dad and more. Some highlights:
She doesn’t like attention when she’s off the runway: “It gets really overwhelming. You feel really overexposed and you don’t want to see anybody… I just want to be in my apartment alone and kind of retreat and be centered again. I think I’ve gotten more used to being around people. I used to get so nervous doing interviews. I’m a very sensitive person.
Being single after her breakup with The Weeknd: “I’m just really focusing on myself, and my work, and just being the best that I can be. I’m not really worried about what guys think about me, I’m just trying to be a woman!”
Managing her Lyme disease: “I couldn’t get out of bed for six day. My brain would get all foggy, and I couldn’t see. That was the hardest time of my life.”
She hasn’t been modeling for as long as Gigi: “People think we’re the same and that we’ve been working just as long, but I’m two years behind her. I still have a long time to catch up!”
On her Muslim father, Mohamed Hadid, and Trump’s Muslim ban: “My dad was a refugee when he first came to America, so it’s actually very close to home for my sister and brother and me.”
Her father & faith: “He was always religious, and he always prayed with us. I am proud to be a Muslim.”
[From Porter Magazine via E! News]
Okay, did I honestly not know that Bella considers herself Muslim…? Did you guys know that? Bella and Gigi have never hidden their father’s side of the family, of course. We’ve always known that they are half-Palestinian and that their father is Muslim. I just thought that Mohamed wasn’t all that religious and that Gigi and Bella didn’t practice any particular faith – as is often the case with multifaith parents. But Bella considers herself Muslim. Huh.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet, Porter, WENN.
