Gigi Hadid Talks Body Image and Her Past "Huge" Thighs, But Refuses to Be "2 Pounds Soaking Wet"

The 20-year-old model gives an inspiring interview about body image

By Corinne Heller Aug 06, 2015 6:10 PMTags
Gigi HadidMark Metcalfe/Getty Images for David Jones

ICYMI, Gigi Hadid isn't like most runway models. And she's not about to change.

The 20-year-old beauty, who is following in the footsteps of mother, former model and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Yolanda Foster, gave an inspiring interview to Daily Mail Australia about body image. Hadid refuses to conform to conventional industry standards regarding beauty to advance her career, which is on the rise regardless.

"When I was growing up, I was really athletic and I had a very athletic body, like, my thighs were huge but they were like rock," she said during the on-camera interview, which was posted on Thursday. "I had like crazy muscles and I ate like a man—more than the man that I eat like now—like a bigger man."

"Once I started modeling, one of my things was like, 'OK, like, yeah, I don't need to be a man volleyball player, but I also don't want to be like, [raises her right pinky finger], two pounds soaking wet,'" she told the newspaper.

Hadid made her runway debut at the Desigual Fall 2014 fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York.

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Hadid told Daily Mail Australia sh wants to be a "healthy role model."

"I can have like, you know, the body for a certain runway show if I need to," she said. "But that doesn't mean that I'm doing it in an unhealthy way."

The model has since walked many more catwalks for top designers and booked modeling gigs for Sports IllustratedGuess, Tom Ford , in which she posed naked for a fragrance campaign, and Victoria's Secret, in which she showed off her bikini body. She was also made a celebrity spokesmodel for Maybelline New York.

Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

"If you just kind of embrace yourself, like, other people accept you in the same way," Hadid told Daily Mail Australia. "And I think that's really cool, to tell other people...that you don't always have to go with the cookie-cutter version of what people tell you you're supposed to be."

Hadid had talked to E! News about body image and her own beauty standards earlier this year. Watch the interview below!

Watch: What Is Gigi Hadid's Fitness Obsession?