It's no secret: Bella Hadid is working with a famous lingerie brand again.
On Dec. 2, it was announced that the 25-year-old model had reteamed with Victoria's Secret for the brand's VS Collective, "an unparalleled group of trailblazing partners who share a common goal to drive positive change," per its website.
She joins fellow celebs including Megan Rapinoe, Priyanka Chopra, Hailey Bieber, Naomi Osaka and more.
Speaking with Marie Claire, Bella shared that it had been "a few years" since she had worked with the company, but that she was drawn back because "a lot has changed" about the brand's practices to make its models feel more comfortable.
"What magnetized me to coming back was them coming to me and really proving to me that, behind the scenes, Victoria's Secret has changed so drastically," she told the outlet. "There was a type of way that, I think, a lot of us women who used to work with Victoria's Secret felt. And now, six of the seven [VS] board members are all female. And there's new photoshoot protocols that we have. So a lot has changed."
Bella also shared that she had a major personal reason behind her decision to work with the company again: "taking my power back and having the power over my body be released to myself."
This isn't the first time Bella has spoken about her complicated feelings about modeling for Victoria's Secret when she was younger. In 2019, she revealed that she "never felt powerful" while walking the runway "in my underwear" for the company.
The following year, a New York Times report alleged that there was a history of "misogyny, bullying and harassment" present within Victoria's Secret "according to interviews with more than 30 current and former executives, employees, contractors and models, as well as court filings and other documents."
As a result of her history with the company, Bella stated that it took time for her to want to willingly reconnect. "It took me almost a year and a half to take the meeting with them," she explained. "Even having that conversation was very complicated for me because of the way that I had felt in the past."
She also maintained that she would never align herself with a company that aimed to bring others down, adding, "I would never work for a company that not only made me feel a type of way, but made the world feel a type of way, until I knew for a fact that real change was going to be made."
Now, Bella believes that "there is just an energy that's switched" on set and that it's an entirely different environment than in the past.
"We feel supported now, instead of how we used to feel, when it was a lingerie company that used to be run by men for men," she stated. "I just look around [on set] and I feel empowered again. I feel empowered in lingerie, instead of feeling like my body is some sort of money maker."