Gigi Hadid is getting candid about giving birth.
The supermodel, 25, welcomed her first child, daughter Khai, with boyfriend Zayn Malik in September, and in a new interview for Vogue's March 2021 issue (on newsstands Feb. 16), the new mom opens up about her baby's delivery, proudly calling herself an "animal woman" for braving through the natural birth. She says the baby girl was a week late, and she wanted a "peaceful bringing to the world" for her first child.
"When you see someone do that, you look at them a bit differently. I probably looked crazy, actually," Hadid says, sharing that by her side was Malik, 28, mom Yolanda, sister Bella, a midwife and her assistant.
Opting against a hospital check-in during the pandemic, Hadid planned for a home birth and, according to Vogue, set up an inflatable bath in their bedroom — and they had their dog and three cats looked after during so they wouldn't accidentally puncture the vessel.
And rather than a birthing playlist of soothing music, Hadid requested to listen to the 1995 kids' movie The Indian in the Cupboard in the background. "That's something we'd never talked about but in that moment we discovered we both loved," she recalls of the spur-of-the-moment entertainment decision.
She also reveals that her former One Direction boyfriend caught their baby: "It didn't even click that she was out. I was so exhausted, and I looked up and he's holding her. It was so cute." Hadid adds that Malik felt "helpless" seeing her in pain. "Z was like, 'That's how I felt! You feel so helpless to see the person you love in pain,' " she says
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Yolanda Hadid Reveals the Moment She Found Out Daughter Gigi and Zayn Malik Were Having a Girl
The new mom says she had to "dig deep" during the birth, admitting she "knew it was going to be the craziest pain in my life, but you have to surrender to it and be like, 'This is what it is.' I loved that."
"There definitely was a point where I was like, 'I wonder what it would be like with an epidural, how it would be different.' My midwife looked at me and was like, 'You're doing it. No one can help you. You're past the point of the epidural anyway, so you'd be pushing exactly the same way in a hospital bed.' "
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Gigi Hadid Shows Off Baby Bump in Throwback Pregnancy Selfie from Night Before She Went Into Labor
Hadid recalls Malik and her family being "in terror" witnessing her labor — and she and Malik agreed to give some time before trying for another new addition.
"Afterward, Z and I looked at each other and were like, 'We can have some time before we do that again!' "
Since her daughter's arrival, Hadid has been giving fans glimpses of her baby girl on social media. She recently shared a sweet photo of the little one holding her finger, writing in the caption, "My girl!" Hadid has also offered fans details about her pregnancy, including the moment she found out she was expecting.
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