The internet never forgets, and sometimes, it digs up things nobody asked for. This time, it’s about supermodel Gigi Hadid, who suddenly found herself dragged into the messy and disturbing world of late financier Jeffrey Epstein. And the reason? A years-old email that mentioned her and her sister Bella Hadid.
The moment the email surfaced, social media exploded. People started asking questions. Some demanded answers. And after days of silence, Gigi finally spoke in her own words, and in a very personal way.
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A strange email from 2015
The controversy started with a 2015 email exchange released by the US Department of Justice. In the email, an anonymous person asked Epstein how Gigi and Bella “became models and made so much money.”
Epstein’s reply was short and cryptic. “You know,” he wrote.
The unnamed individual then suggested that their father had “paid the agency.” Epstein responded with a blunt “No,” and later added, “Because they follow directions, it’s that simple.”
Soon after the email became public, fans began noticing Gigi’s silence. On March 29, a social media user commented under one of her Instagram posts saying she had “to unfollow” the model because she hadn’t addressed being named in the files.
Gigi finally breaks her silence
In a reply that was later deleted, Gigi explained why she hadn’t spoken earlier. She wrote that it was “horrible” to read someone she had never met speaking about her in that context.
She also said she stayed quiet at first because she didn’t want to take attention away from the real victims. But the comment made her realise that people were confused, and she needed to clarify things.
Gigi added that she was around 20 or 21 years old when the email would have been written. She called being named in those files “disturbing” and made her position crystal clear.
“I want to state unequivocally that I have never had any affiliation with that disgusting human being,” she wrote.
The shadow of Epstein
The situation carries extra weight because of Epstein’s history. Between 2008 and 2019, dozens of women accused him of sexual abuse. In July 2019, he was arrested and charged with sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking.
Just weeks later, on August 10, 2019, Epstein reportedly died by suicide in his jail cell while awaiting trial.
Addressing privilege and hard work
In her response, Gigi also tackled another point raised in the email, the suggestion that her success came from family money.
She acknowledged growing up “privileged,” but emphasised that her parents, Mohamed Hadid and Yolanda Hadid, protected her and taught her the value of hard work.
She said she signed with a modeling agency in 2012 and has worked hard for every opportunity since then. The model insisted that her career wasn’t handed to her, despite her well-known family background.
Why she deleted the reply
Although the response spread quickly, Gigi eventually deleted it. But screenshots had already gone viral. By then, her message had reached millions.
Her decision to remove the comment seemed consistent with what she said; she didn’t want to overshadow the experiences of Epstein’s victims.
Still, the damage control had already been done.