Gigi Hadid on Dealing With Gossip: 'Do Everything With Good Intent'

Gigi Hadid is at the top her game – she just won the International Model of the Year award!

Living her life in the spotlight means tons of rumors are circulated about the 21-year-old model in the media all the time – but Gigi is handling it like a pro.

PHOTOS: Check out the latest pics of Gigi Hadid

“Sometimes you have hard days and sometimes people judge you just by guessing from a photo,” Gigi told Teen Vogue at her boxing/self-defense class with Gotham Gym trainer Rob Piela as part of Reebok’s #PerfectNever campaign. “Like she’s a bad girlfriend because she wasn’t smiling the second she walked out the door or she’s this or she’s that … You start to think you’re supposed to be perfect in all of these moments, but you have to remind yourself that you do everything with good intent. The mental thing is the most important thing.”

“Before modeling, my mom said, ‘develop yourself and what you think about yourself before you go into an industry where the rest of the world is going to judge you,’” Gigi added.

Pictured inside: Gigi shopping at Victoria’s Secret on Thursday (December 8) in New York City, and her sister Bella Hadid arriving at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France, to catch a flight to New York on Wednesday (December 7).

Click inside to read what Gigi had to say about the importance of being an athlete…

“That’s why being an athlete was such a big part of me being proud of myself and proud of my skin,” she said. “My coaches didn’t care about how I looked, they care about me because I was a good teammate and a good friend and I worked really hard. Those are the things that made me feel strong.”

FYI: Gigi is wearing Krewe sunglasses.