Naomi Campbellhas been in the modeling industry for over three decades, and has lived a whirlwind life few others ever had. Now, in a new interview, the 49-year-old is opening up about her past struggles and her what her future has in store.
Campbell stars in one ofWSJ. Magazine’sthree October coversfeaturing the “Icons of Industry” (includingDemi Mooreand Disney CEO Bob Iger) and talks about her past drug addiction andthe strugglesshe’s endured as a vanguard of the modeling industry in her accompanying interview.
“I’m a survivor,”Campbell told the magazine. “I don’t have a squeaky-clean life, and I don’t pretend to. I was the first to say that I was an addict, and I’m so grateful to God to be a recovering addict and a recovering alcoholic.”
Because of her own struggles, she’s taken the next generation of models under her wing. “I don’t want models of diversity to have to wait as long as I did [for pay equity],” Campbell explained.
Annemarieke Van Drimmelen for WSJ. Magazine
And while she doesn’t have kids of her own “yet”, she considers the next generation of models her own kiddies.
“Not yet—I’ll see what the universe brings me. For now, what the universe has delivered is very much in the spirit of a ‘chosen family,'” she said noting model Adut Akech as someone who calls her “Mama.”
She continues, “Being alone doesn’t mean you are lonely. I don’t have time to be bored, and I don’t have time to be lonely.”
These days her inner circle is small, and that’s just the way she wants it. “Travelinghas saved my life in a certain way—I keep it very limited to who knows what [I’m doing] and where I’m going,” she says, listing fellow models Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington, photographer Steven Meisel, designers Marc Jacobs and Anna Sui and makeup artists Pat McGrath and François Nars as her confidants.
Stephane Cardinale/Corbis/Getty
In the piece,British Vogue editor-in-chiefEdward Enninful praised the model for her “whirlwind” life.
“If Naomi wasn’t modeling, she could run a small country,” Enninful toldWSJ’s Magazine. “She has that thing, like most black people in any industry: You have to fight twice as hard. She’s always been fighting, but now even more.”
One example of that was when she was asked to walk in a show during Paris fashion week in March that was casting all black models. “I can’t say what I’m saying and go the other way. No amount of money will allow me to do that,” she told the magazine. “I had to say, ‘I’m really sorry, it’s not about the numbers, it’s about my integrity at this point of what I have been saying. I’d be a complete hypocrite. I can’t sell out.’”
And her integrity is the reason the model will always be her on boss — no exceptions.
“There’s no point at this stage in my life to just be working for someone else,” Campbell said. “I’ve been asked constantly to do a documentary. People say, ‘We’ll give you a small fee.’ It’s like, you think I’m stupid? I know what my life is. I know that it’s been very colorful. It’s like, I’m going to give it away? No.”
WSJ. Magazine’sOctober issue out on newsstands Saturday, October 12th.
source: people.com
