Not ready for her close-up! Gigi Hadid reflected on how much her life changed when mom Yolanda Hadid joined The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills in 2012.
“When I think of my childhood, I think of [being] the crazy, ecstatic volleyball player. I was that loud voice. I loved sports, I loved being on a team, I loved school and my friends. That’s what comes naturally to me,” Gigi, 26, recalled during her March 2022 InStyle cover story, which was published on Wednesday, February 2. “But when people first started to get to know me, it was like, ‘Oh, her mom was [Yolanda Hadid] on [The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills]. That is her life.’ But that wasn’t my life or a part of my growing up.”
The model was forced to quickly adjust to cameras appearing in her home — and she eventually developed a system to avoid being filmed herself.
“My mom wasn’t on TV until I was a senior in high school, so I was just on my way out of the house. But it was weird for me,” Gigi confessed. “I would come home from school and there would be production trucks outside. I would scale the staircase to my room so I wouldn’t have to go say hi to my mom in the kitchen.”
Yolanda, 58, starred on the Bravo series for three seasons from 2012 to 2016. Throughout her time on the reality series, the Dutch native was sometimes joined on screen by daughters Gigi and Bella Hadid and son Anwar Hadid, whom she shares with ex-husband Mohamed Hadid. All of her kids went on to find success in the modeling world.
Yolanda didn’t hold back on camera, documenting her battle with Lyme disease and her ups and downs with David Foster, from whom she split in 2015 after four years of marriage. One year before the duo finalized their divorce, the Believe Me author confirmed in 2016 that she was not returning to RHOBH amid her health issues.
“I would have loved a more graceful exit then ‘Season 6’ but sometimes we don’t get to control the ending of the chapters in our life,” Yolanda wrote via Instagram at the time. “I am leaving what’s over without denying its past importance in my life. I believe that every exit is a new entry and with that in mind I say goodbye to my @Bravotv Family as I continue to focus on a my recovery, my children and bring back the privacy within our Home.”
Yolanda’s children are not the only ones to reach stardom after appearing on RHOBH. Lisa Rinna‘s daughters, Amelia Gray Hamlin and Delilah Belle Hamlin, have also made cameos on the reality series in the past.
Amelia, 20, previously clapped back after being accused of lying about her health to get “air time” on the show, which has featured her mother, 58, as a main cast member since 2014.
“I usually don’t post these. But this really got to me. Lying about a mental illness is disgusting. Something I hope nobody would ever do. I seriously can’t believe I’m being accusing of lying about anorexia to get more ‘air time’ sorry but I’m forced to be on the housewives by my mom,” the California native, who has been outspoken about struggling with an eating disorder in the past, wrote via Instagram in July 2020. “Ask anyone it’s the last thing I want to do. I couldn’t care less about air time. So f—k you.”
Amelia later clarified her comments after her followers questioned her use of the word “forced.”
“CAN EVERYONE PLEASE CALM DOWN AND STOP!!! My mom is so so amazing. She ‘encouraged’ me to be on the show in my opinion I was 12 and didn’t know what it was going to be like. And I’m so glad that she encouraged me to do so. I’ve been able to touch so many souls with my story,” she noted via her Instagram Story that same month. “All I was trying to say was that I’m not just on this show for a f—king story line you guys chill.”
The model added: “Obviously it’s been six years. I could have stopped filming long ago. Can you just all chill? I haven’t ’cause I have a story to tell to HELP people and now I’ve become super close to all the women and I love them. Like would you wanna be on national television at 12???????????”
Rinna, for her part, laughed off the situation via Instagram, writing, “I may do a lot of things, but I don’t force anyone to do anything. So chill.”