Gigi, Bella and mum Yolanda Hadid are household names, but there’s another, lesser-known Hadid model in the family, and she’s about to hit the big time: Joann van den Herik.
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A Dutch plus-size model who recently signed with 12+ UK Model Management, Joann is Yolanda’s neice – making her Gigi and Bella’s cousin. With 40k+ Instagram followers, the 18-year-old hasn’t quite found the same level of fame as her American cousins, but we say it’s only a matter of time: not only is Joann drop-dead gorgeous, she’s all about promoting body positivity through social media – and that’s something the world needs a whole lot more of.
With catch-cries of “Celebrate those fatrolls!” and “love your stretchmarks!”, Joann seeks to promote healthy, happy bodies. Take this extract from one of her recent Instagram posts:
“I’m so scared posting this BUT I wanna show you guys that instagram girls are NOT perfect. So thank you for all the sweet messages already 😭 ….. there once was a girl who couldn’t smile and showing her fatrolls at the same time… There once was a girl who didn’t want to go swimming with her class because then she had to show her legs.. there was once was a girl who hated her stretchmarks and never wanted to change her clothes if there was anyone else in the room (even her family or best friends!). This girl was so insecure because everywhere she looked or went people told her that she was too “fat”, too “ugly”, that she was “unhealthy” and that she needed to lose weight.”
“This girl would have never believed if you told her she was at the same place she is now. This girl is me. And I think a lot of boys and girls can relate to what I’m saying here. People judging you because you don’t look like the models on the covers or people judging you because you DO look like the models on the covers. It’s always too thin or too fat, there’s no in between!!! You can never make other people happy so 🖕🏼them. Do YOU! Make yourself happy. Don’t care about the opinions of others because they’re not you and they will never be.”
