"I Have the Fighter in Me": Gigi Hadid on Defending Herself in Milan
Last week, videos of Gigi Hadid went viral after she was attacked by a stranger while leaving a fashion show in Milan. The man picked her up from behind and Hadid swiftly elbowed him in the face, causing him to drop her and run away. Though initial reports painted the model as a bratty celeb who fended off a desperate fan, Hadid clarified on Twitter that she "had every right to defend herself"-only then was she praised for her badass moves. The model spoke to Lena Dunham for Lenny about the importance of self-defense for young women, and the dangers of street harassment in everyday life.
Hadid starts off with a play-by-play of what went on in her mind when it happened. Luckily, her athletic background was an advantage:
I remember taking the time, as it all felt slo-mo, to look at him, a stranger, and my first reaction was: "Get me out of this situation." I played volleyball, and my coaches talked about muscle memory. I started boxing two years ago and I always remembered that. Since then, I hadn't been in a situation that forced me to fight back, but it just came out when he grabbed me - it wasn't a choice. I do have that fighter in me.
She adds that she hopes the situation inspired girls to educate themselves on self-defense:
Honestly, I felt I was in danger, and I had every right to react the way I did. If anything, I want girls to see the video and know that they have the right to fight back, too, if put in a similar situation.
The model also opened up about the headlines that described her action as "not model behavior" and "aggressive":
That's when I really got pissed. First of all, it was a woman who wrote the story with that headline. What would you tell your daughter to do? If my behavior isn't model behavior, then what is? What would you have told your daughter to do in that situation?
She even added that her own mother, Yolanda Hadid, reacted by texting her messages of support including, "Good girl." Gigi finishes with a message that this isn't an isolated event specific to her:
It sounds cliché to say it, but in the moment, it wasn't heroic to me. It was just what I had to do. It's very touching to me that people see it that way. I know people are put in much worse situations every day and don't have the cameras around that provoke social-media support.
Hadid points out that there are other people, especially women, "in much worse situations." Dunham writes that street harassment occurs on a global scale. Forty-five percent of American women don't feel safe walking home at night, according to a 2014 survey, compared to 23 percent for men, and the statistics are higher for developing countries.
"I just want to use what happened to me to show that it's everyone's right, and it can be empowering, to be able to defend yourself," Hadid explains.
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