Winnie Harlow was diagnosed with a skin condition known as vitiligo right from her childhood. She never allowed such to stop her from achieving her dream. Instead, she turned the disadvantage around to her own advantage. The Jamaican-Canadian supermodel was one time a contestant on America’s Next Top Model reality TV show.
1. Who is Winnie Harlow?
- Winnie Harlow biography and educational background
Chantelle Witney Brown-Young popularly known as Winnie Harlow was born on the 27th of July 1994 in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. She is the daughter of Windsor Young and Lisa Brown, Winnie has two sisters and she is of Jamaican ancestry. At the age of 4, she was diagnosed with Vitiligo, a chronic skin condition with depigmentation of the portions of her skin. This made her childhood a bit challenging concerning the series of bullying she suffered in the hands of other children. This made her change schools several times, and ultimately led her to depression. At a time, she almost committed suicide when both white and black students gave her demeaning names like Cow and Zebra.
2. Career highlights
Harlow finally got her big break after she was discovered by supermodel Tyra Banks on Instagram, who at the time was the host of the America’s Next Top Model. Winnie Harlow eventually found herself as the only Canadian and among the 14 finalists at the 21st cycle in the America’s Next Top Model in 2014. She also partook in the Comeback Series, a similar tv show. After she left the America’s Next Top Model house, she modelled for Desigual, a big Spanish clothing brand. In 2015, she walked at the London Fashion Week for the fashion brand Ashish. She has also walked for a top Italian fashion brand Diesel and Dazed, a fashion magazine.
Harlow modelled for Glamour magazine after her photoshoot with Nick Knight, British fashion photographer. The Canadian-Jamaican fashion model has appeared for Vogue Italia, Ebony Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Showstudio.com, i-D and partook in the campaign for Swarovski. She was used by Sprite in one of their commercials and appeared as one of the models at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. She has made appearances for other top brands like Nike, Puma, Tommy Hilfiger, Fendi, Marc Jacobs, Steve Madden and MAC. in 2011, She was at the TEDx show where she talked about her experience living with Vitiligo. She also has a talk show on YouTube where she talks about the skin condition. At the Portuguese GQ Men of The Year even, Winnie was honoured with the ‘Role Model’ award. Winnie Harlow made an appearance at the Canadian Grand prix in 2018, where she waved the chequered flag.
Winnie Harlow has made several appearances at television shows over the years such as The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, What Would You Do? The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Making the Cut. She acted as video vixen in Guts Over Fear by Eminem ft. Sia, Lemonade by Beyoncé, Promises by Calvin Harris and Sam Smith, and most recently True Love by Wizkid.
3. Winnie Harlow net worth
Winnie Harlow makes as much as $500k yearly. Her net worth is around $4 million, making her one of the richest fashion models around.
4. Winnie Harlow cars and houses
Harlow was used in the Volkswagen Digital campaign where she advertised the company’ T-Roc. She was also at the Jaguar E-Pace car launch party in London. Other than that, nothing much is known about the Winnie Harlow car collection, at least to the public. When it comes to her house, there is a report that Winnie Harlow stays presently in Dubai. In 2020, she flaunted her new mansion in California. She has been rumoured to be dating Kyle Kuzman, a basketball player who plays for the L.A Lakers.
5. Conclusion
Winnie Harlow was born with vitiligo and she turned it around to her own advantage. She went from being the bullied girl in the neighbourhood to one of the most sought-after fashion models in the world.