Yolanda van den Herik, better known as Yolanda Hadid, was one of the most prominent models of the 80s. Born in Papendrecht (Holland), on January 11, 1964, the businesswoman had a brilliant career in the fashion industry, But currently many associate her with the controversies she has been involved in in recent years and with her obsession with turning her daughters, Gigi and Bella Hadid, into two of the highest-paid tops in the world.
Van den Herik’s childhood was marked by the death of her father, who was in a car accident when she was only seven years old. When she was a teenager, Yolanda went to work as a dishwasher in a Chinese restaurant to help the family finances.
Overnight, the Dutch woman went from the kitchen to being one of the models of the moment thanks to Eileen Ford, owner of the Ford Models agency, who discovered her when she participated by chance in a fashion show in Amsterdam. After signing with the company, a young 16-year-old Yolanda began to parade in New York, Milan, Paris, Los Angeles and Tokyo.
For fifteen years he was one of the most common faces on the catwalks, as well as on the covers of the main fashion magazines. During that time she had a brief relationship with Julio Iglesias and, after moving to Los Angeles, she married Mohamed Hadid in 1994, the Palestinian real estate businessman with whom she had Gigi, Bella and Anwar.
Hadid decided to leave the fashion industry to dedicate herself body and soul to her family, but six years after the wedding she divorced the father of her children. Despite their separation, Yolanda did not return to work and was not heard from until her participation in the reality show The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. It was in the third season, released in 2012, when viewers got to know in depth this controversial housewife who was obsessed with her daughters’ diet and wanted them to dedicate themselves to fashion. It should be said that she also tried it with Anwar, but she has not had the same success as her sisters.
Yolanda, who at that time was married to record producer David Foster, presented herself before the cameras as a woman in love with her family and her children, with whom she lived in a dream mansion in Beverly Hills where she had her own lemon trees.
But throughout different episodes, a side of Hadid that was not liked on the networks was discovered. The businesswoman controlled everything her daughters ate. For example, she recommended Gigi eat “two almonds and chew them well” when she had a photo shoot and even forbade him from eating a regular slice of her birthday cake. Many also attacked the former model when she allowed her daughter Bella to have a nose job when she was only 14 years old, a surgery that the young woman regretted, confessing a few years ago in an interview: “I wish I had kept my ancestors’ nose.” “.
In the same reality show, Yolanda showed her fight against Lyme disease – which her children Bella and Anwar also have – and viewers witnessed her divorce from Foster. Currently, the Dutch woman is happy with construction businessman Joseph Jingoli.
Hadid’s history of controversy also includes aggression by Zayn Malik, her ex-son-in-law and father of her granddaughter Khai. In 2021, the former model claimed that the singer had pushed her while they were arguing, a claim that was denied by Malik, who was sentenced to 90 days of probation and had to follow a gender violence program. Additionally, he was fired from his record label.
