Gigi Hadid's Mom Admits to 'Stalking' Her Children and Stealing Their Clothes

Yolanda Foster and Gigi Hadid at The Beauty Book launch (Photography Kenneth Willardt Studio)

When was the last time your mom tagged along to a rager? For Gigi Hadid—aka this season’s new fashion darling—the answer is Friday. The 19-year-old arrived at photographer Kenneth Willardt’s Chelsea bash to celebrate his new project, The Beauty Book—and was arm-in-arm with her mother, Yolanda Foster.

Granted, they’re not a typical pair: Foster is a former supermodel and Real Housewife fan favorite; Hadid’s first gig was for Guess… when she was two. (Her sister Bella, 18, is a model, too, and also a nationally ranked equestrian.)

So what’s it like having the same job (and clothing size) as your mom and your little sister? We asked Hadid and Foster for some family dirt…

Yahoo Style: You’ve mentioned that you used to steal your mom’s clothes, but now she steals yours. What’s the latest fashion theft in your family?

Gigi Hadid: It’s getting more complicated now that Bella’s in New York, too. Before, it was like, she’s in California and I’m here, so our wardrobes were very separate. Now that we’re in the same city, I think—okay, I’m worried!—that all my clothes are fair game!

Yolanda Foster: So are her sister’s, though! I’m wearing Bella’s boots tonight, and her Sportmax coat. So we’re all starting to get even. [Laughs] I’m not sure any of my favorite clothes are safe anymore!

GH: Hidden cameras. It’s going to come down to that.

YS: Yolanda, we saw you on Real Housewives giving Gigi modeling advice. Now that she’s working for Tom Ford, is she giving you advice?

YF: Well, I gave Gigi advice a very long time ago! That footage was from when she was first starting out. Now, with so much experience in these past few years, I don’t say a word, I swear…and I’ve never gotten modeling advice from Gigi, but I get social media advice from her all the time.

GH: She didn’t know what Twitter was.

YF: Okay, how would I know?!

GH: Mom. Everyone knows what Twitter is.

YF: My friends didn’t! Come on. It’s not my generation. So Gigi was very helpful to me about Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and she continues to teach me how to use it. It still feels weird to me, all the sharing, but I understand how now, it’s a huge part of the fashion industry, and it’s a part of our careers, too. So I do it. I think I’m getting pretty good at it.

GH: She is.

YS: Do you stalk your kids on social media?

YF: Constantly.

GH: All. The. Time.

YF: Well, you’re my kids! I want to make sure you’re all right. And when Gigi moved out to New York, we suddenly had a three hour time difference between us. So when I’d wake up in the morning—or sometimes, to be honest, in the middle of the night, because when your child first moves away, it’s hard, you miss them—I would be able to see that Gigi was okay because of her Twitter or Instagram. It was a great relief.

GH: I actually think it’s really nice. I would’t post anything on my Twitter or Instagram that I wouldn’t want my mom to see—I mean, they’re public!—and I’m glad it makes her worry less.

YF: Usually.

YS: Gigi, do people ever use your real name?

GH: Oh, my real name! It’s Jelena. People started calling me Gigi in kindergarten, because I had a classmate named Helena, and it got confusing.

YF: No! That’s not when it started. It was when you were a baby. No, in the family, we always called her Gigi, because when I was a baby, my mother called me Gigi. So it was passed down.

GH: She still calls me Jelena, though, when she’s mad! That’s when I know I’m in trouble. My big sister Alana still calls me Jelena, too.

YS: If someone yelled “Jelena!” in the middle of a party, would you turn around?

GH: Oh, sure. It’s definitely my name. Though if someone said it in the middle of a party, that would be pretty weird, because it would mean my mom was at the party with me.

YF: I am at the party with you.

GH: Oh, mom! You know what I mean.