Winnie Harlow is a well-known figure in the world. Her name is synonymous with the catwalks around the world, and she is a true supermodel.
She is well-known for embracing her individual beauty in order to succeed in a highly competitive field. Beautiful smile and self-assured pose hide a story of a Canadian girl who has overcome numerous obstacles to achieve success. Her life’s journey has made her a beloved figure around the world. Winnie Harlow’s story will continue to unfold as you read on.
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She was bullied as a child.
Windsor Young and Lisa Brown had a daughter named Winnie Harlow on July 27, 1994, in Toronto. She grew up in a family of three with two older sisters who were close friends. They were all raised by their mother, Harlow’s mother, on her own.
She was four years old when doctors discovered Harlow suffered from Vitiligo, a disfiguring skin condition. There is a depigmentation of the skin due to the condition. Michael Jackson, the late pop icon, was also found to have this illness.
Harlow was bullied at school because of a skin condition. She was made fun of and called offensive names like “cow” and “zebra,” among others. The parents of the children were complicit in their children’s bullying and racial discrimination. Harlow was able to make friends at one of the schools she attended. But all of a sudden, they stopped spending time with her.
The reason they quit being friends with her was because their parents warned them her skin problem was contagious, so she questioned them why they had stopped. For an 8-year-old, that’s a lot to take in. When she was in middle school, the other pupils started getting physical with her. A girl once mooed at her while she was watching a basketball game, and she got into a fight with her as a result.
Harlow let the girl beat her up to get out of the cold once the fight broke out. Extreme cold makes her skin more sensitive, so she was desperate to warm up. The next day, the girl tried to attack Harlow again, but she was easily defeated. In spite of this, the girl never tried to harm me again.
When Harlow transferred to a different school, the bullying only got worse. According to Harlow’s account in Cosmopolitan, it was a trying moment for her:
“I remember sitting by my window, wishing upon the stars that my skin condition would go away. I wondered, ‘Why me?’”
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After graduating from high school, the cycle of abuse and violence persisted. Her school expelled her after she was attacked by a gang of girls. After Harlow transferred to a new high school, she was able to devote herself fully to her academics.
Furthermore, she found work at a contact center and was able to start saving money on her own. Harlow made the decision to stop going to school so she could devote more time to her career.
Before going into modeling, she tried her hand at dancing.
When Harlow was a kid, she wanted to be a ballerina. She didn’t get her wish. She tried ballet for a bit but quit after suffering a groin injury. She was able to recuperate, but not before she was injured again in the groin. It took her two groin pulls before she made the decision to stop.
A Toronto Journalist, Shannon Boodram, found Harlow’s Facebook page after she dropped out of high school and got in touch with her. Shannon produced a Winnie-themed YouTube video that was a huge success. Harlow was made public as a result of this incident. Winnie was motivated to pursue a modeling career after meeting Shannon.
Harlow decided to give modeling a shot, although she was turned down by a number of modeling agencies along the way. According to what she told Daily Front Row, she’s the following:
As one director told me, ‘You have such a lovely bone structure, you can thank your mum for that, but there isn’t much of a place for you in the industry, and if you want to be anywhere near the industry, you should definitely go into makeup.'” “It was a slap in the face in the worst way.”
Harlow was devastated, but it only served to fuel her will to excel in the future. She persisted in her efforts, and eventually, they were rewarded.
She was discovered by Tyra Banks.
Harlow continued to send her photos to modeling agencies when she started publishing them on Instagram. However, she was met with a barrage of cynicism. On one occasion, she travelled to Toronto just to attend an America’s Next Top Model: All Stars fashion show. Harlow was taken aback by the compliments she received from the other contenders. According to them, Tyra would have chosen Harlow on the spot if she had been present at the time of the show.
Because of this, Harlow decided to try out for Fashion Art Toronto. Eventually, she was chosen and went on to appear in eight fashion shows. During the performances, she shared pictures on social media. Additionally, Harlow requested that her pals post the images on social media and tag Tyra Banks.
With the help of her younger sister’s Facebook profile, she was approached by a casting director from America’s Next Top Model. When Tyra saw Harlow on the show, she invited her to be a guest star.
Winnie lived in Toronto, worked full-time, and was pursuing her GED. It was her decision to seek a modeling career over all else.
America’s Next Top Model season 14 had Harlow as a contestant. She made it all the way to the final four, but was knocked out in the second round. Her eviction sparked a social media firestorm, but she quickly reassured her adoring followers that it was all for show.
She was a part of a comeback series with other former candidates who had been booted from the competition. In order to give the ousted contestants a second chance, a spinoff series was created. Harlow had a commanding lead in the popular vote, thus she was reinstated on the main stage. However, on the thirteenth episode, she was once again eliminated.
She is a Global supermodel,
America’s Next Top Model gave Harlow a wide range of new career options. Photographer Nick Knight was a client of hers. Nick, according to Harlow on Daily Front Row, gave her confidence as a model.
“Nick complimented me on how well I understood my physique and how to be a model from head to toe. He instructed me I should demonstrate how to go to the other models.”
After that, she starred in a Desigual commercial alongside Adriana Lima. After then, Harlow was named a spokesperson for the fashion house. As she said to the Daily Front Row, Desigual was important in launching her career internationally.
A turning point in my career came with my first commercial for Desigual. Suddenly, people in Times Square, Tokyo, and even the Barcelona airport had seen my face. That was my big break as a model in the public eye. That video of me in Times Square was weird.
Nick Knight got in touch with her once more to ask her to do another photo session for the Italian fashion label Diesel. Harlow walked the runway at London Fashion Week in 2014 as the face of Ashish. Sprite tapped Harlow for a commercial appearance in 2016.
As previously stated, she is a Victoria’s Secret Angel
In the person of Winnie Harlow The Victoria’s Secret Angel
Winnie debuted her new role as a Victoria’s Secret model on Instagram on September 8th, 2018. The writer went into great detail about what it was like for her on the day of her audition for the part.
She made her Victoria’s Secret debut in November 2018 alongside models like Leomie Anderson, Bella Hadid, and Barbara Palvin. This is what she had to say to Teen Vogue about her time on the catwalk:
To be able to walk the VS runway was one of my most important modeling goals, if not my most important one. Achieving this goal has given me more power and confidence in my career than I’ve ever had. I’m looking forward to letting my newfound self-confidence shine through in all I do, from fantastic things in the modeling industry to new ventures I’ve never considered before. “I’m at my zenith right now.”
Winnie the Pooh inspired her given name, which is Winnie Harlow.
Winnie took Jean Harlow’s last name for her own. When Winnie was a kid, she was a huge Marilyn Monroe fan, so she wanted to go by the name Monroe. This did not sit well with her, so she opted to use the name Jean Harlow instead. Marilyn Monroe was greatly influenced by the work of Jean Harlow.
Her nickname was given to her by one of her friends as a joke. She told Daily Front Row the following story about what happened on that particular day:
My friends and I were on the phone with some guys when I snatched one of my girls’ phones and shouted, “Don’t be rude to my friends!” ‘Who is this?’ the boys inquired. My companion was wearing a Winnie the Pooh T-shirt as I turned around, so I introduced myself as Winnie.”
That is how Winnie Harlow came to be. Even after all these years, her family still calls her Chantelle Brown-Young.
She aspired to work as an entertainment journalist when she was younger.
Terrence J on BET motivated her to go into entertainment journalism when she was younger. Harlow was confident in her abilities as an entertainment writer because of her outgoing attitude. She went so far as to audition for an MTV search for a VJ in her hometown of Toronto.
As a result of her inexperience, she was turned away at the age of 17. The judges recommended that she enroll in a journalism program. Her modeling career, on the other hand, took off even before she started college..
MTV gave Harlow the opportunity to attend the 2018 VMAs and realize her goal. The red carpet was presented by Harlow, who discovered that working in entertainment journalism isn’t as simple as it appears on TV. She told the Daily Front Row about her ordeal as follows:
“I was shaking with fear! As a result, my first interview on air was with Shawn Mendes, whom I knew well enough to give a big hug and say, ‘Please help me, I’m so nervous!’ Being a part of the red carpet was a little too much for me. Even though entertainment journalism isn’t something I want to pursue any longer, I’m thankful I got to live out a dream while working on it.
She is currently dating rapper Wiz Khalifa
The couple made their public debut on July 6th, 2018 at a Hugo Boss Fashion Show in Berlin, where they were both models. On July 17, 2018, at Khalifa’s record release party, the couple announced their relationship status.
Throughout the celebration, Harlow and Wiz remained close and had several private exchanges. He has the support of Khalifa’s ex-wife Amber Rose. When asked about meeting Harlow for the first time, she told Us Weekly that she thought she was “lovely.” Amber and Wiz have a son named Sebastian, and Amber is looking forward to Harlow being a stepmother to him.