Gigi Hadid asks paparazzi to blur daughter’s face in photos: ‘I just want the best for my baby’

Khai is model’s first child with partner Zayn Malik

Gigi Hadid has penned an open letter asking paparazzi to blur her daughter’s face in photos.

The model shared the message on social media on Monday (5 July), calling it “a letter from a Mamma”.

She explained that Khai, her 10-month-old daughter with her partner Zayn Malik, “loves seeing the world” and has started to “want her sun shade lifted up” on visits to New York City.

“As our baby grows up we have to realise that we can’t protect her from everything the way we wanted to and could when she was smaller,” Hadid wrote. “She loves seeing the world!”

Khai, she added, “doesn’t understand why she’s covered in the city, or what I’ve wanted to protect her from”. The mother also stressed her desire to enable her daughter to “see the most amazing city in the world” and “the beautiful and diverse people that walk down the streets of NYC”, “without the stress of the media circus that comes with parents who are public figures”.

“I write this all to say: to the paparazzi, press, and beloved fan accounts, you know we have never intentionally shared our daughters face on social media,” Hadid added.

“Our wish is that she can choose how to share herself with the world when she comes of age, and that she can live as normal of a childhood as possible, without worrying about a public image that she has not chosen.”

To that end, Hadid wrote: “It would mean the world to us, as we take our daughter to see and explore NYC and the world, if you would PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE blur her face out of the images, if and when she is caught on camera.

“I know it’s an extra effort – but as a new mom, I just want the best for my baby, as all parents do… and I hope this can continue the conversation to protect minors in the media, even if they come from a public family.”

The model also thanked the photographers who have been “so respectful” of herself and her family.

“For a child, I can imagine that close or dramatic paparazzi frenzies must be overwhelming and disorienting … it still is as an adult that understands and deals with it often,” she added.

“I appreciate you taking the time to read this and hope you can understand where I’m coming from.”

Hadid and Malik welcomed their daughter in September 2020. She’s the couple’s first child.