It’s no surprise that Kelly Gale—who is soon to hit the Victoria’s Secret catwalk for her second year running—is on the path to supermodel stardom; with her Indian and Australian heritage, she’s got the kind of angular cheekbones, transfixing gaze, and lustrous chestnut brown tresses that major campaigns are made of. And though all those things might incline you to assume she’s had an easy time of it, well, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Here, the model shares the story of how she broke away from schoolyard bullies to become front and center on the runway.
I grew up in Gothenburg, Sweden. I also lived in Ghana for four years and in Australia for one year. My dad was working abroad so we traveled with him. My mom is Indian and was adopted in Sweden.
I was discovered when I was twelve. I was with my family at a coffee shop and a woman from my first agency came up to me. My parents said, “Absolutely not!” I waited a year and then the same woman came up to me again by myself, and I asked my parents if I could model. I really wanted to try it, because I was picked on a lot. I looked different. I was used to being the “ugly girl” in school. I thought that maybe modeling would make my confidence better.
When everyone at school found out that I had started working and modeling for H&M, they didn’t like that. At one point, my agent called my parents and said, “Everyone from Kelly’s school wants to try out. Do you know why?” My classmates were like “Oh, you think you can be a model, we’re going to show her that we can also do it.” It got so bad, they were giving me such a hard time, I was getting beat up and stuff, and the teachers weren’t doing anything. At one point, I was hit at school and on the bus. The girls at that school would all stand in a ring around me, and one girl would come up and hit me. The older guys would say “Hit her, hit her!” and then film it with their phones. On the way home one day, a new girl who just started school came up to me and said, “I heard so much about you and I’m new here, and this stuff just doesn’t go!” Then she just hit me, and no one on the bus—not even the adults—did anything.
One day, I bought food, wrote a letter to my parents, stuck it under my door, brought food, and locked my room. I wrote, “I’m not coming out until I switch schools.” We tried to get me into a few different schools, but most of them had waiting lists. One school was known for being extremely good with a very long waiting list, but my mom explained the situation. I got to skip the waiting list and they took me straight in. Apart from modeling, that school is the best thing that ever happened to me.
I’m now nineteen. The weird thing was that while the bullying was happening, I thought I was doing something wrong, that I was the bad person. Now I understand it wasn’t like that at all. It takes a lot to break me down, and I have really tough skin, and I know there are a lot of girls who find it hard—and it is. It’s difficult. I would tell girls now, don’t believe that you are the one doing the wrong thing—even if everyone is telling you that you are the bad person. If your parents don’t listen, talk to someone else, reach out to a friend and get out of the situation because no one deserves to be bullied or go through that.
I hear now that some of these girls are liking my photos on Instagram, and that they are telling people that they’re my best friends. They add me on Facebook. I don’t accept. I think, looking back, it was good for me to go through something like that. It made me a stronger person.
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