Gigi Hadid covers the latest issue of InStyle. This is, I believe, her first major interview since the mess with Zayn Malik last fall. Months ago, Zayn took a plea deal for verbally and physically abusing Yolanda Hadid and verbally abusing Gigi over the phone. Zayn and Gigi broke up around the same time, although they’re still in each other’s lives because of baby Khai. I mention all of that because… Gigi does not. InStyle notes that Gigi has recently broken up with Zayn and that she had a rough 2021, but Gigi does not directly address anything Zayn-related. She does talk around some of those issues though. Some highlights from InStyle:

She’s always been self-possessed: “Yeah. When I think of my childhood, I think of the crazy, ecstatic volleyball player. I was that loud voice. I loved sports, I loved being on a team, I loved school and my friends. That’s what comes naturally to me. But when people first started to get to know me, it was like, “Oh, her mom was [Yolanda Hadid] on [RHOBH]. That is her life.” But that wasn’t my life or a part of my growing up. My mom wasn’t on TV until I was a senior in high school, so I was just on my way out of the house. But it was weird for me. I would come home from school and there would be production trucks outside. I would scale the staircase to my room so I wouldn’t have to go say hi to my mom in the kitchen.

Being an open person: “I’ve always been very trusting, and like a lot of people, I learned the hard way in this industry by being too open in interviews. You have to start to calculate your steps, because you went for it with an open heart, and sometimes it doesn’t get portrayed that way. So, in part, yes, I have scaled back. But in the moments when you’re face-to-face with people, you still have to be open. You’re only going to have a human experience if you’re fully in the moment. You try not to have those weird voices in your head that come from traumatic experiences.

She loves roller coasters and amusement parks: I’ve always loved amusement parks, and I’m especially obsessed with Disneyland. I go to Disneyland Paris in the middle of Fashion Week to feel like I’m escaping. Whenever I go to Tokyo for work, I go to Disneyland Tokyo. I love Disneyland California because it’s in my home state. I was supposed to go to the Orlando Disney World for my 25th birthday with all my friends, but COVID hit and I never made it. My favorite international amusement park is the Efteling in the Netherlands. I grew up going to it. It’s a fairy-tale forest, and you walk through the beautiful woods and come across, like, Hansel and Gretel’s [house]. There’s also a roller coaster from a Dutch fairy tale about a dragon. It’s amazing… I’m on every roller coaster. I’ve jumped out of a plane in Dubai. We did it over the Palm hotel. It was so cool.

What she eats during Fashion Month: “Honestly, I’m always carb-loading. I wake up and I love scrambled eggs and toast. I usually take an orange juice and a coffee in the car with me, because show catering is tragic. I’m grateful that I have resources where I can bring things with me to work, but there are a lot of girls who don’t have that, and it pisses me off that there’s literally no catering. During fashion month, the big relaxing meal is usually dinner, and you want all the pasta and burgers. I’m always going for comfort food because we’re traveling. You have your favorite restaurants that feel like home in each city, and you can go back and have the same meal.

[From InStyle]

Do you believe that she carb-loads during any given Fashion Week? I don’t. It’s not even specific to Gigi: I don’t think ANY model carb-loads during Fashion Week. Most of those models are doing back-to-back runway shows, and when the shows are done, then there are the parties. I think models are mostly boozing their caloric intake or just grazing throughout the day, nothing big. As for the stuff about rollercoasters…y’all know that I CAN’T with rollercoasters, right? I can’t do any of that stuff. I will vomit all over you if you try to put me on anything other than the teacups. Now, I would probably enjoy Efteling? If it’s just a cool forest with goblin houses, I’m there.

Cover & IG courtesy of InStyle.