Who the Hell Are Sisters Gigi and Bella Hadid? An Explainer

By Kara Brown | March 5, 2015 | 8:00pm

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Who are the Hadid sisters?

Gigi and Bella Hadid are the daughters of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star and former model Yolanda Foster and wealthy real estate developer Mohamed Hadid. Both have appeared on the show mostly watching as Yolanda packs and unpacks their belongings.

Why do I care about these people?

You don’t have to, but due to the intoxicating allure of celebrity and our society’s obsession with youth and beauty, you might. Bella and Gigi are both models who are on a steep rise. Amongst people who use the phrase, they are currently known as “It Girls.”

Ok, so they’re models?

Yes.

Are they twins?

No. Gigi is nineteen years old and Bella is eighteen—Yolanda and Mohamed, who are divorced, also have a 16-year-old son named Anwar. Yolanda often distinguishes the two girls thusly: Bella is the edgy brunette who likes to wear all black. Gigi is the blonde, bubbly “girl next door.” A regular Betty and Veronica.

Are they successful models?

They’re on their way. Both are blowing up right now—Gigi in particular—which is why they might be starting to look familiar.

After graduating from Malibu High School in 2013, Gigi moved to New York to attend the New School. You might remember this occasion from an episode of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills where Yolanda moved her into a beautiful, impeccably decorated one-bedroom apartment which I’m sure looks exactly like your freshman dorm.

She signed with IMG models in 2011. After modeling as a child for Guess, she landed another gig with the denim company 15 years later as the face of their 2012 Fall/Winter campaign. (She also appears in their Spring 2013, Fall/Winter 2014 and Spring 2015 campaigns.) In addition to Guess, Gigi has appeared in advertising campaigns for Tom Ford fragrance, eyewear and beauty. She is the new face of Maybelline and Seafolly and has appeared on the covers of Teen Vogue and Vogue Spain.

Her editorials include V Magazine, Vogue and Vogue Brazil. Gigi has walked in shows for Marc Jacobs, Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier, Michael Kors, Anna Sui and Tom Ford. In Milan last week, she opened and closed Max Mara. She was also named one of the twelve rookies in the 2014 swimsuit addition of Sports Illustrated and appeared as the love interest in Miguel’s “Simplethings” music video. Daily Front Row crowned her as its Model of the Year for 2014.

Bella hasn’t quite reached the same ranks as her sister yet, but she is the younger one. Bella moved to New York last year to study photography at Parson’s (also technically the New School). She is signed to IMG models. Bella has appeared in spreads for Teen Vogue, Elle UK and Out of Order Magazine. She joined her sister walking in the Tom Ford Fall/Winter 2015 show. Most recently, Bella was named the face of the Botkier Spring 2015 campaign.

Cool. Are they famous for anything else?

Gigi has been in an on-and-off relationship with Australian singer Cody Simpson for over a year. So, there’s that.

Bella had a moment in the limelight on this season of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills when she was hit with a DUI.

What about famous friends?

Gigi is close with fellow models Lily Aldridge, Cara Delevingne, and Kendall Jenner, as well as Selena Gomez and Best Friend to the Stars, Taylor Swift.

Bella and Miley Cyrus have become quite the duo.

And they both took this amazing picture with Rihanna:

They seem a little annoying. Are they annoying?

Not really! Both come off as pretty grounded, sweet, chill young women in interviews. They both are still in enrolled in school and after one year, Yolanda and Mohamed made Gigi start paying her own rent from her modeling income. In addition, Yolanda, her husband David Foster and Bella’s father Mohamed handled her run-in with the law quite well. They took away her phone, sold her car and made her pay all her legal bills out of her savings. (My favorite thing about the last part of the punishment is that it’s really only something very wealthy people can get away with. Most teenagers don’t have thousands of dollars in savings to pay defense attorneys. I liked that it was proportional to their lifestyle.)

Really? Nothing else?

Well, they both do have some sort of obsession with McDonald’s that is starting to reach eye-roll status.

Largely because it’s annoying to remember that they have the metabolisms of teenagers and can binge on McDonald’s and still maintain a model’s physique.

Is their mother proud of them?

Yes, Yolanda Foster is very proud of her daughters. She expresses this pride often by posting lots of pictues of them on Instagram with the hashtag #proudmommy.

Lede image via Getty.