Gigi Hadid Put Body-Shamers On Twitter In Their Place & I'm So Here For It
When you're a celebrity, it's basically inevitable that you're going to have an equal ratio of people who adore you, to people who despise you, and unfortunately, the latter group tends to speak a lot louder most of the time. Well, the haters have been coming out to play more and more lately, especially when it comes to criticizing and over-analyzing celebs' bodies. On Sunday, Feb. 11, Gigi Hadid's tweets about body-shamers definitely put the haters in their place after some people took to social media to criticize the 22-year-old model for the way her body looks.
Hadid has been working her ass off lately, and this past weekend, she strutted her stuff on the runway for New York Fashion Week. Given how hard she's been working, I can only imagine that the last thing she wanted to wake up to at any point these past few days was a flurry of hateful comments about her appearance, but alas, here we are.
Mind you, this isn't the first time Hadid has had to deal with this kind of hate. According to USA Today, the model posted an Instagram back in December that received comments insinuating that Hadid "must have an eating disorder," or asking, "What happened are they making you starve?" Basically, if you've been following Hadid on her social media accounts for a while, you know she's been putting up with a whole lot of BS on multiple platforms in recent months. Not only that, but it's a little ironic when you think about it, because Hadid was — if you can believe this — actually being accused of being "too fat" back in 2015. It truly goes to show that, when you're in the spotlight the way Hadid is, you will never, ever be able to please everyone or avoid the hate.
But on Sunday, Hadid decided that she was no longer going to stay silent on these issues. She took a stand against the body-shamers through a series of powerful tweets.
She started off by telling her followers that she has a condition called Hashimoto's disease, which she explained she's been struggling with for several years now. Hashimoto's thyroiditis is an autoimmune disease that basically causes your immune system to attack your body's own tissues. According to Mayo Clinic, it can cause a wide range of side effects, including weight gain, puffiness of the face, and extreme fatigue, to name a few.
Hadid continued, and explained how she's been managing her own symptoms and her well-being since being diagnosed with the disease.
She revealed that in between the day-to-day tasks that come with her highly demanding modeling career, she was also a part of a medical trial that assisted her with bringing her thyroid back to regular and healthy functioning.
Hadid made it clear that she does not decide how to take care of her body on the basis of what other people have to say about it.
The 22-year-old model wrapped up the series of tweets with a plea for "more empathy for others," and to remember "that you never really know the whole story" when it comes to someone else's well-being.
Hadid's tweets immediately went viral (I mean, come on, it's Gigi Hadid, how could they not?), and for all the haters who may have been out there trying to bring her down, it soon became clear that Hadid has at least twice as many loving supporters by her side, if not a hell of a lot more.
Chrissy Teigen responded to Hadid's first tweet with her own sassy interpretation:
Fellow supermodel Martha Hunt also took a stand with Hadid and stressed the point that "'healthy' looks different on everyone."
Fashion, beauty, and lifestyle influencer Amena had Gigi Hadid's back, too.
Some people admired Hadid for bringing a much-needed public awareness to Hashimoto's disease.
All in all, though, the message here is pretty simple: If it's not your body, it's not your business.
No matter what your opinion is about Hadid, there's one helpful, important lesson to take away from what she had to say: "Use your energy to lift those that you admire rather than be cruel to those [you] don't." Honestly, couldn't have said it better myself, Gigi.