COVER STORY
The Hadid sisters are caught up in a legal case against their father, which could hurt their careers and family relationships S STORIE
IN AN ERA where a model’s reputation is just as important as the number of Instagram followers she has (see the backlash last week when Kendall Jenner wore fur at Milan Men’s Fashion Week), you can understand why today’s supers would do anything to avoid negative headlines.
It’s unsurprising, then, that Gigi Hadid is said to be ‘reeling’ after being named as a witness in an ‘embarrassing’ legal battle involving her father Mohamed Hadid.
Last week, the billionaire property developer was embroiled in a $600,000 court battle with his former employee Juan Carlos Gonzalez, who previously sued Mohamed for $576,267.34, citing unpaid wages. In the current case he claims that he had failed to receive the money, and has accused Mohamed of trying to hide it in fraudulent wire transfers. Mohamed denies the allegations.
It comes just six months after Mohamed was spared jail for the illegal construction of a 30,000 sq ft mansion in Bel Air ( he was fined $3,000, ordered to pay $14,191 in fees and given 200 hours’ community service). He has described Gonzalez’s request to call Gigi, as well as her sister Bella and her mother Yolanda, to testify as ‘nothing more than harassment of third-party witnesses aimed at further damaging defendant Hadid’s personal and professional life and relationships with those witnesses’.
His statement will no doubt add credence to insiders’ claims that the court case is already causing tensions within the Hadid family, with one source telling Grazia, ‘ The whole situation right now is incredibly embarrassing, and Bella and Gigi have demanded that their father
fixes this mess before they get dragged into it any further.
‘ They regularly travel around the world for fashion shows and shoots and they’re worried about being called to appear in court at any moment, especially with Fashion Month coming up. It would be a massive inconvenience for them, not to mention threaten to make them lose out on fashion projects that have already been booked. They’re scared to book big jobs right now because they don’t know how soon they might be summoned, all they’ve been told is that they will find out in the next few weeks.
‘Mohamed is doing everything he can to keep them out of it. But there’s no telling what the judge will say. If the claims aren’t rejected, Bella and Gigi will have no choice but to make court appearances, which is causing them a lot of stress and discomfort.’
The models are no strangers to scrutiny. Last year, Bella told Grazia, ‘It’s hard. There are a lot of things I want to talk about, but I’m afraid of being judged constantly. You have to pick your words very consciously.’
‘Bella and Gigi know this would be a publicity nightmare for them,’ continued the source. ‘If they get subpoenaed, they have no choice but to show up in court or risk getting cited for contempt, which can lead to an arrest warrant. The last thing they want is to get in trouble with the law themselves, and Mohamed feels awful that they’re in this position. But he’s being positive and trying to assure them it won’t come to that.
One person supporting Gigi is her boyfriend Zayn Malik, who Grazia understands is keen to take the next step in their relationship, which began in 2015. According to one well-placed source, ‘ Zayn has been attempting to propose to Gigi for months now but she’s always tried to brush him off. She’s always felt they are too young and shouldn’t be in a rush, but recently she’s had a change of heart.
‘Most importantly, she’s had the blessing of her mother Yolanda, who has seen how serious Zayn is. She’s told Gigi to go for it if that’s what she wants.’
Gigi’s Instagram photo of the pair last week will only add to that speculation. Its caption read, ‘Love this man more than I could ever put into words, & am inspired by his drive to be and do better every day. Cheers to YOUR YEAR my @zayn – happiest happiest birthday & 25th year of life!! I’m proud to be by your side x.’
‘Gigi’s pals are now saying it will be a matter of months before the couple announce some very big news,’ added the insider. ‘Everyone is really excited.’
ZAYN HAS BEEN ATTEMPTING TO PROPOSE TO GIGI FOR MONTHS