Supermodel Breaks Silence on Being Named in Epstein Files
The star said the appearance made her “sick to my stomach.”
Supermodel Gigi Hadid has said that being mentioned in the Epstein files made her “sick to my stomach.”
Hadid, 30, and her sister Bella, 29, were both referenced by name in a 2015 email between late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and an individual whose identity was redacted by the Department of Justice.
The anonymous person asked Epstein how the Hadid sisters had “become models and make so much money” before suggesting that their father, Palestinian-American real estate developer Mohammed Hadid, may have “paid” their modeling agency.
Gigi Hadid has broken her silence over being mentioned in the Epstein files.
Angelina Katsanis/REUTERS
Epstein said “no” to the concept of a nefarious payment, but when the mystery person responded “there are too many girls giving b---jobs,” the late financier wrote “agreed.”
A social media user posted on Gigi Hadid’s Instagram that she “had to unfollow” the model, as she had not spoken publicly since being referenced in the files. Multiple celebrities, from Bill Gates to Bill Clinton, have clarified they knew Epstein and spent time with him but had no knowledge of his crimes.
Gigi Hadid responded that she never “met the monster” and that being in the files made her “sick to my stomach.”
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Epstein died in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. He was convicted in Florida in 2008 of soliciting prostitution from a minor.
Jeffrey Epstein referenced the Hadid sisters in a 2015 email.
Rick Friedman/Corbis via Getty Images
While the comment has now been deleted, a Brazil-based fan page for the supermodel took a screenshot and posted it.
“Horrible to read someone you’ve never met speak about you that way. Especially in this context,” Hadid said in the archived comment.
The model said she had not previously made a public statement because she did not “want to take away from the stories of real victims of his,” but the comment threatening to unfollow her prompted her to clear up any confusion about her career.
“I grew up privileged, yes,” she said. “But my parents protected me and taught me the value of hard work, the same hard work that got them to this country and gave them careers.”
Sisters Gigi Hadid and Bella Hadid.
Alessandro Garofalo/REUTERS
Her father moved to the U.S. when he was 14 and went on to make his fortune developing mansions in California. In 1994, he married Dutch model Yolanda van den Herik, who later appeared on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. They divorced in 2000.
Gigi said her mother took her to meetings with agencies in New York, including two that her mother had been signed to. She joined the agency IMG, which had no link to her mother, in 2012.
“I’ve worked hard every moment since,” she stated. “To be named in those files, I think I was 20-21 at the time he would have written that email—is disturbing, and I want to state unequivocally that I have never had any affiliation with that disgusting human being.”
She finished her post saying “May he rest in…” and added fire emojis seemingly to signify hell.
Gigi Hadid arrives at “Le Grand Dîner du Louvre” to mark the first fashion exhibition at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, on March 4, 2025.
Gonzalo Fuentes/REUTERS
The Daily Beast has contacted Gigi Hadid’s representatives for comment.
Hadid, who has a daughter with former One Direction singer Zayn Malik, has been dating Bradley Cooper, 51, since 2023.
The most famous model to appear in the Epstein files is Naomi Campbell, who features in around 300 documents. She has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
Email exchanges show the British supermodel requesting to fly on Epstein’s private plane and meet at his New York mansion. FBI investigators quoted unnamed victims who said Epstein introduced them to Campbell at social events, and she was also seen at his island.
Naomi Campbell is mentioned in the Epstein files several hundred times.
Katie Collins/REUTERS
Campbell’s lawyer Martin Singer told The New York Times that his client had no knowledge of Mr. Epstein’s “heinous criminal conduct until after his 2019 arrest” and had no contact with him after that.
He added that Campbell lived in Moscow from 2008 to 2013 and “she had no idea that Epstein was a registered sex offender.”
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