Gigi Hadid discusses raising a mixed-race child and being made to feel 'too white'

By Danielle Long

Gigi Hadid is opening about her approach to parenting.

The 26-year-old model welcomed a baby girl, Khai, with singer Zayn Malik, 28, in September 2020, and in a new cover story for i-D's "THE NEW WORLDWi-DE ISSUE" she spoke up about raising a mixed-race child.

"We think about it and talk about it a lot as partners and it's something that's really important to us, but it's also something that we first experienced ourselves, because both of our parents are their own heritage," she said.

Hadid's father is of Palestinian origin and her mother is Dutch-American. Malik's dad is Pakistani and his mom is half-Irish.

"We are that first generation of those mixed races, and then that comes with that first generational experience of being like, 'Oh damn, I'm the bridge!'" she said.

"That's not something that my parents experienced or that they can really help me through. It's something I've always thought about my whole life," she added.

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Explaining her own journey of navigating being of mixed race, the mom of one shared, "In certain situations, I feel -- or I'm made to feel -- that I'm too white to stand up for part of my Arab heritage."

"You go through life trying to figure out where you fit in racially ... am I allowed to speak for this side of me, or is that speaking on something that I don't experience enough to know?" she continued.

When it comes to her daughter, Hadid said, "I think that Khai will grow up feeling ... that she can or wants to be a bridge for her different ethnicities. What comes from her is what I’m most excited about, and being able to add to that or answer her questions, you know?"