Naomi Campbell talks about herself: racism, drugs and that reputation of being a “difficult” woman

It often happens with famous people: we think we really know them, we talk about them as if they were friends, we are sure we know what they want, how they act, whether they are nice or unbearable. It is the result – inevitable – of exposure to the magnifying glass of notoriety. The gossip, the chatter, the rumours, the spotlights that are always on and the anecdotes that spread from mouth to mouth until they build a perception of you that is perhaps realistic, perhaps a little distorted.

We are here, on the other side, deciding who we like and who we don’t based on the idea we have formed. And, if we pay attention, often the characters that, if you know why, we really don’t like regardless (those whose talent we may even recognise, but who we find truly unbearable) are women. Federica Pellegrini, Meghan Markle, Naomi Campbell. These are just a few examples of famous women who have the reputation of having a “bad temper”whatever that means.

And that’s exactly what the Black Venus Naomi wanted to speak in the new Apple TV+ documentary, The Super Models, where he appears together with fellow top models from the golden age Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington and Cindy Crawford. A four-part series that tells the extraordinary careers of these fashion icons, who had the opportunity to confess what that environment was like and what their difficulties were. From racism (“I started to understand culturally that I would have to work really hard to feel accepted,” Naomi said) to drug addiction, which – Naomi says – tried to be a palliative for the pain felt for the death of Gianni Versace. And then, precisely, the reputation of being a “difficult” woman.

«It wasn’t easy being an outspoken black woman and I was penalized for it many times»the fashion legend confessed, explaining to the cameras how her reputation as a “difficult” woman was born and how much this weighed on her psychologically.

Naomi told the cameras that when she left the modeling agency Ford For Elitefounder John Casablancas took her to a business meeting with a very large cosmetics brand that was interested in offering her a contract. «When they told me how much they wanted to pay me, I refused in front of everyone», says Naomi. “It was the amount they give me in Tokyo in one day, why should I have accepted it for a one-year contract?” Plus, Naomi says in the docu-series, she knew how much her colleagues were paid, and she wasn’t willing to take a penny less. Besides, why would she?

That refusal, however, cost her dearly. «John felt very embarrassed and decided that I was “difficult”. Then he said that he would tell it to the press, and that he would fire me.” «The sign of that word and his statements to the press have messed up my work for years», Naomi admits. «I heard that I was crazy, that I was a nightmare, that I was difficult The truth is, they said I was difficult just because I opened my mouth, period».

John Casablancas, who died in 2013 at the age of seventy, was obviously unable to give his version of events, but authoritative voices come in support of Naomi in the documentary, such as that of the legendary designer and former creative director of Christian Dior John Galliano, that in The Super Models explains that even if Naomi Campbell can be a demanding type, in the end she is always totally right: «I mean, if Naomi hadn’t liked a dress she would never have given up on me», says Galliano. “And if that meant I had to do another one in twenty-four hours, I had to do it.”