Daily Times

Bella Hadid revelled she was subjected to racist bullying and name calling in school while growing up in California away from her Palestinian family in Washington DC.

In a new interview with GQ Magazine, the supermodel talked about how disconnected she felt living in California and away from her Palestinian roots after her parents got divorced.

The sister of Gigi Hadid, daughter of the Palestinian real estate developer Mohamed Hadid and Dutch model Yolanda Hadid, moved to California at a very young age with her family.

“I was with my Palestinian side,” Bella told the outlet. “And I got extracted when we moved to California.”

“I would have loved to grow up and be with my dad every day and studying and really being able to practice, just in general being able to live in a Muslim culture. But I wasn’t given that,” she shared.

The supermodel-turned-actor went on to reveal that she often faced racist bullying at school for being the only Arab girl in her class. While growing up in Santa Barbara, she faced “racist name-calling,” Bella disclosed while adding that she was “never able to see myself in anything.”

“For so long I was missing that part of me and it made me really, really sad and lonely,” she shared with the publication. Bella, who is all set for her acting debut in Hulu series Ramy, said that she was brought to tears when the crew surprised her with a Free Palestine T-shirt.

“I couldn’t handle my emotions,” she shared. “Growing up and being Arab, it was the first time that I’d ever been with like-minded people. I was able to see myself.”