Naomi Campbell (1970- ) was a British supermodel of the 1990s. Top clothes designers wanted her to walk down the catwalk showing off their latest creations. She was the first black woman to appear on the cover of French Vogue.
She had both beauty and grace.
She still looks fabulous, as she puts it, but now she is becoming more famous for throwing mobile phones at servants and recovering from her years of cocaine and drink rather than for her beauty.
In three years she will turn 40.
She was discovered by Beth Boldt at age 15 walking in Covent Garden near her school in London. Boldt said, “She just glowed. I followed her to see how she moved and asked her if she wanted to be a model. She said yes.” A year later she was on the cover of British Elle.
In 1989 she became the first black woman to appear on the cover of any noted American fashion magazine. On that day she cried.
By the middle 1990s she was one of the top four supermodels.
For a while, from 1993 to 1997, she was part of PETA, which is against killing animals to make clothes. In 1993 Campbell promised she would never put on anything that was made from a dead animal. But then one afternoon while she was eating with Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue, a PETA diehard came up and threw a dead racoon onto Wintour’s plate. It was too much.
The happiest day of her life, she says, was when she met Nelson Mandela in 1998 (pictured above). She has helped him to raise money for the Children’s Fund. She has helped other good causes as well.
She has met Castro, whom she also admires. Castro says she seems surprisingly different in person.
In addition to Castro and Mandela, her heroes include Josephine Baker and Toni Morrison.
In December 1999, about to turn 30, she appeared in Playboy.
Of her beauty she is proudest of her legs.
She has appeared in film, music videos and on television shows. In Japan she sang a number one song with Toshi Kubota. She “wrote” a book called “Swan” about the fashion industry.
She wants to become an actress but is not good at it.
She has never married. Her men seem to last no more than a year or so. Although she is beautiful, she is hard to get along with. She is used to people telling her yes and having everything her way. She is famous for not controlling her anger.
Even though she is rich and famous, what she wants most is to be a wife and mother.
She hates London and loves New York, yet she spends most of her time in London, where she is from.
She is the daughter of Jamaican parents. She is mostly African by blood but one of her great grandmothers was Chinese (Hakka, in fact). Her father left before she was born and she barely saw her mother, a dancer who was always on the road.
See also:
Naomi’s mother is Jamaican, and her father is mixed. You might want to include that being British is more so the country that she was born in and grew up in as apposed to her racial ethnicty.
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How do you know that about her father? I always heard (but maybe just assumed) he was Jamaican.
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she is so dope
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naomi rocks!!! we share the same bday- 23rd may!! we are same height same weight, im prettier and would make a better model but she got well lucky being spotted, good on her man, but yeh my hal nigerian half british looks would knock her dead on the catwalk!!!!
marilyn
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“She is mostly African by blood but also one-fourth Chinese.”
I think that clarifies some of the confusion I have read about her heritage.
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“Naomi’s mother is Jamaican, and her father is mixed.”
She’s born of jamaican parents, one of which (the father) is of chineese decent. There are jamaicans of many race, black, chineese, Indian, white…they just dont take the whole thing so serious…by the way, she’s 1/8th chineese- if you want to be exact. She also has a beautiful place there in Ja.
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I had her at one-fourth Chinese. Thanks for the correction.
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Naomi is gorgeous and she is still rocking the catwalk like a jaguar!
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u fuckin ugly
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more sexy than beautiful
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Naomi, you are one reason that am still single. Come to Los Angeles and I will take you out. You are not an common specie of woman. You are a Godess my darling.
Am going to be dirty but forgive me; when am with another, I imagine am with you and guess what happen!!!
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^^^
Interesting.
Just because a black person isn’t light skinned doesn’t mean that they have no admixture. If that’s case, that notion would disprove the reality of the vast majority of black Americans having non-black admixture, wouldn’t it?
Naomi has Chinese and other non-African blood. This is well documented. But that’s neither here or there.
I agree, that she is a headstrong black woman, some try to vilify her. All noted black women who didn’t play to the status quo has been through that. Regardless of complexion.
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Naomi has the best catwalk ever. No one can compare to her when she walks down the runway.
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Naomi is very mean and it’s not a matter of how she’s portrayed. She’s been physically violent toward her staff and even Tyra Banks said that she caused her a lot of pain which she’s carried until just recently. Tyra said they have since resolved the issue, but they are not friends. I think Michelle Obama may be headstrong – Naomi’s just plain mean. She does have a great walk though.
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I agree. It is not just bad press: stories of her hitting people with telephones have enough merit to hold up in court. She has had to go to anger management courses and do community service.
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Leigh:
Thanks for the video. She looks better in motion than standing still. She is utterly gorgeous.
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Oh, Naomi, has a bitch streak, no two doubts about it. But so do many big time fashion models! It’s just that Naomi’s exploits hit the press making them public knowledge.
Yes, she is utterly gorgeous. There’s a reason why she’s been in the game for almost 20 years and is still standing strong.
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Naomi is the beat catwalk model. She is almost 40 but can give the younger models a run for their money. All the other supermodels of her age have aged badly including Kate Moss. The white media hate her because she is the best at what she does and is supremely confident.
Whatever you say about Naomi, she has done a lot for charity, for example working with agencies in all parts of the world and using her fame to raise money.The media prefer to concentrate on the negative aspects of her character.
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Though I do give credit to her career accomplishments, it’s just not cool to throw phones and other people or do physical and emotional harm to others. Judging from what Tyra said she was treated by her and what her staff says, she has a lot of insecurities and anger management problems. Her profession shouldn’t excuse that behavior. I mean, how would you like it if your boss threw a cell phone at you or slapped you? Or your co-worker tried to jepordize your position at work (which is what she did to Tyra by calling designers and telling them not to book her)? I’m sorry, but bad behavior is bad behavior regardless of color or race.
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hey, does anyone even bother to think about the emotional harm done to her in HER life? I don’t take it she had a nice little walk into life…
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@Asada
Yes perhaps. but in this life who has had it easy emotionally? Naomi is definately not alone in that. But most people do not go to the lengths she does with her anger. So having a bad emotional life and upbringing and all the terrible things that happen to us humans as we go through the course of our lives is no excuse for such behaviour to your fellow man. I truly hope she is able to get help for her anger problems. 🙂
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AO, you took the words from my mouth. Most people don’t escape without having some bad emotional experiences. If I took out on people every bad thing someone has done to me, I would be under the jail.lol
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@ islandgirl
Me too. Doin time…Big time. lol
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I agree with AO. It is no excuse.
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It seems this Gal is a beautiful %$#@^&*% EEEDAT cannot control herself seeek some help girl.
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I’m glad I stumbled into a reiterating encounter of Naomi. She’s my dream wife without the massive exposure. So she’ll just be beautiful without me.
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I think I like Naomi Campbell I wish I was in oversee I would have dated long ago she’s the girl I am looking for .
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She is one of the most gorgeous women on earth!!!
Bottom line.
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Awesome pic I found of Naomi..her face is great in this photo.
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I get the picture but eeuuww about your pants LOL.
Thanks Leigh for that clip, Naomi is ridiculously HOT, maybe not conventionally beautiful but wow!! 😉
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She may have temper tantrums, but you have to admit she’s a bad mamajama! I wish I had her long legs and her walk is just fierce!
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Love your blog. BTW, Beverly Johnson was the first black model to appear on a Vogue cover (1974), and Willette Murphy, was the first black model to appear in a major fashion magazine in 1961: http://onthisdayinfashion.com/?p=3289
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aloha I would WORSHIP this woman. KISSING her on her LIPS would b HEAVEN on earth! mahalo aloha hb
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Swith baby how was ur day
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lOOK AT THIS catwalk queen!!! LOVE HER!
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@ eric,HATER! WISH YOU HAD HER DON’TCHA.LOL.you can look but don’t touch.
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I always thought she was thin not thick but that my opinion
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U r georgeous woman
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Legion, you know you are sooo wrong for that photo, LOL 🙂
what can you say, sometimes to look and feel beautiful (and keep up with fashion trends), you have to “pay to play” and that bonding glue is a b’tch on the hairline… and a common problem but Naomi’s is one of the worst that I’ve seen.
I used to do hair (informally) back in my younger days — never did (and still don’t) like the mindset that many black/mixed race women have when it comes to dealing with their “natural” hair… too many people make excuses as to “why” their natural hair has to be hidden…
some people say–to be “trendy”, or give the hair a break”… pulling the hair up in an “up-do” or in a bun can do both of those things…hair can get a break and still grow (of course, other factors come into play)
I would have some girls who would come to get their hair creamed (relaxed) with less than a 1/2 inch of new growth– hair is dead but chemical relaxers truly “kill” hair– because the chemical is never really neutralized and with each application, it eats the hair strands away
… and many women falsely believe that braiding with extensions or wearing weave is not damaging… even dreadlocks can fall-out if hair is not cared for with some kind of regimen
I love big Afro puffs and curly/corkscrewed hair (like they say, the grass is always greener on other side)
but this wanting to wear extensions and wigs, to me, is a Eurocentric mindset that will need time to break — it’s an emotional thing, and black women have to mentally get to the stage where they “love their hair” in it’s natural glory and take the time to learn how to deal with and “manage” their hair in it’s natural state —
black women can grow long hair themselves — if more black women with long hair was visible in society, then maybe this mindset that they have to “buy” long hair would go away.
my niece finds inspiration from this blog:
http://www.curlynikki.com/2012/05/shellis-secrets-to-length-retention.html
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Naomi Campbell turned 50 yesterday!!!
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