Gigi Hadid has responded to critics who said she looked too skinny during her New York Fashion Week appearances. The model explained that she has an autoimmune condition, Hashimoto's Disease, which has affected her weight, in a lengthy Twitter thread on Sunday.
Taking to the social networking site to share the message with her 8.5 million followers, Gigi wrote: "For those of you so determined to come up w why my body has changed over the years, you may not know that when I started @ 17 I was not yet diagnosed w/Hashimoto's disease; those of u who called me 'too big for the industry' were seeing inflammation & water retention due to that."
Gigi Hadid said Hashimoto's Disease is responsible for her slender physique
Gigi continued to say that over the last few years she has received medication to help with symptoms such as extreme fatigue, metabolism issues and her body's ability to retain heat. "Although stress & excessive travel can also affect the body, I have always eaten the same, my body just handles it differently now that my health is better," she explained. "I may be 'too skinny' for u, honestly this skinny isn't what I want to be, but I feel healthier internally and am still learning and growing with my body everyday, as everyone is."
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The 22-year-old added that she will no longer justify her slender physique to critics, and slammed suggestions that drugs were responsible for her weight loss. "Not to judge others, but drugs are not my thing, stop putting me in that box just because u don't understand the way my body has matured," she said.
The model responded to critics who said she looked too thin
Gigi's post ended with a plea for social media users and fans to have more empathy with others rather than judging those they don't know. "Use your energy to lift those that you admire rather than be cruel to those u don't," she concluded.
Hashimoto's Disease is the most common type of autoimmune reaction that causes an underactive thyroid. Symptoms can include tiredness, being sensitive to cold, weight gain, depression and muscle cramps, and if this isn't treated it can lead to complications such as an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease and developing a goitre - an abnormal swelling of the thyroid gland that causes a lump to form in the throat.