When you’re a fashion week runway staple like Gigi Hadid, chances are you have your fair share of front-row critics. After days of strutting at NYFW shows, from Jeremy Scott and Bottega Veneta to Prabal Gurung, the supermodel has found herself at the center of a social media firestorm of body shamers, some of whom even accused Hadid of a drug habit for looking “too skinny.”
Clapping back at her haters, the 22-year-old opened up about her health struggles on Twitter yesterday, particularly regarding Hashimoto’s disease, also known as chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis. The autoimmune disorder is the most common cause of hypothyroidism in the U.S. and leads to chronic inflammation with symptoms like fatigue, depression and unexplained weight gain.
The model, who first revealed her battle with Hashimoto’s in December 2016 at Reebok’s #PerfectNever event, ended her body-positive statement with a plea to the online community to cut down on insensitive comments. “Please, as social media users and human beings in general, learn to have more empathy for others and know that you never really know the whole story,” she wrote. “Use your energy to life those that you admire rather than be cruel to those you don’t.”
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A number of Hadid’s followers quickly showed her their support, including best friend and fellow model Kendall Jenner, with some also sharing their personal stories about body shaming.
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