'I've always known when I've been bad. But I don't regret anything': An unforgettable encounter with Naomi Campbell
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Banned by BA, sacked by her agency, sued by employees...the combustible queen of the catwalk has left a trail of devastation in her wake. But she has a fresh challenge – battling racism in fashion and mentoring a new generation of supermodels
'You know what I've been, and it is why I've said my life has been colourful. But I am not in denial about it. It's part of growing up,' said Naomi Campbell
Naomi Campbell has a bad back. It’s the reason why she is four hours behind schedule.
It may also be the reason why everyone around her looks slightly nervy and somewhat dazed.
But then again, that may just be the Naomi effect – this is a woman with a scorcher of a reputation. The scariest supermodel of them all.
The beautiful bad girl from Streatham, who conquered the catwalks with that body, that face, that attitude, that hip-swivelling strut. The diva who wouldn’t get out of bed for less than £10,000.
Lying on the table in the inner sanctum of Campbell’s dressing room at a London studio, alongside the typical supermodel flotsam and jetsam (a half-eaten bag of Wotsits, a bag of Haribos, a packet of cigarettes and her ever-bleeping mobile), sits an iPad with a cracked screen.
'I don't look in the mirror and think I'm really, really pretty. I see a work in progress,' said Naomi
It is a reminder of the other side of Campbell – the phone-throwing, temper-tantruming, banned-from-British-Airways dark side.
In 1993 she was fired from her agency, Elite, for repeatedly abusing staff and clients.
Then, in 2007, she pleaded guilty to assaulting a personal assistant with a mobile phone and was sentenced to anger management and community service.
Every day she would arrive at New York’s Sanitation Department in designer clothes, ready to sweep roads.
‘What do they expect me to do?’ she demanded.
‘Walk in looking all drib and drab? I’ve never looked drib and drab in my life.’
Rehab (in 1999) and willpower cured her of a cocaine and alcohol problem but the fury remained in the girl who was brought up by her single mother Valerie, a dancer.
In 2008, there was her well-documented scuffle with British Airways over her lost baggage.
In 2010, she testified at the trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor over a gift of ‘blood diamonds’, allegedly delivered to her by presidential bodyguards.
Taylor was later convicted on 11 counts of war crimes and was sentenced to 50 years. Campbell stated at the trial that she had received a gift of a pouch of ‘small, dirty-looking stones’ and had intended them to be donated to charity.
And she’s probably the only person ever summoned to a Hague war crimes tribunal to declare, under oath, ‘This is an inconvenience for me . . .’
‘Yes, I’ve been a naughty girl,’ she concedes when I list the impressive charge sheet of misdemeanours.
‘But I don’t regret anything. You know what I’ve been, and it is why I’ve said my life has been colourful. But I am not in denial about it. It’s part of growing up.
'I was terrified,' said Naomi on her triumphant catwalk return for Versace in Paris this year
‘The thing is, I’ve always known when I’ve been bad – I don’t need anyone to tell me I’ve done something wrong, I know exactly what I’ve done.
'For me, the worst thing is to be in denial.
'I’ve never had denial because to my friends I’d always say: “Yup, I did that.” With the people I love I’m very open. I let them see all sides of me.’
Physically, what I can see is a work of art.
Campbell is wearing a short black Alexander McQueen skater dress – the late designer taught her to scuba-dive even though she could barely swim. It has cut-out panels that show off her perfectly flat stomach and unbelievably long legs.
Everything about her is flawless. But she is virtually impenetrable, only occasionally making eye contact, preferring to gaze around the room.
‘I don’t look in the mirror and think I’m really, really pretty,’ she says. ‘I see a work in progress.’
Now 42, she has a string of famous ex-boyfriends, including Robert De Niro, Mike Tyson, U2’s Adam Clayton, the late John Kennedy Jr, and her most recent ex, Russian billionaire Vladislav Doronin. But it wasn’t her love life that landed Campbell back in the press this week.
Along with David Bowie’s model wife Iman and the ex model turned activist Bethann Hardison, Campbell has founded the Diversity Coalition.
She has used her profile to speak out against racial prejudice in the fashion industry, accusing top designers (including Victoria Beckham) of snubbing black and Asian models.
‘It’s heartbreaking,’ she tells me. ‘In the last year I have had young black models tell me they haven’t been booked because “we already have one black model” or “this is not the United Colours of Benetton” and even “your shape is different”. It’s upsetting and it’s insulting.
'When I started out, there was balance on the runway – white and black, African, Indian, Asian. The designers flew in girls from all over.
‘Somehow now, with the involvement of casting directors, stylists and designers, a different aesthetic has evolved even if the people in the industry aren’t consciously aware that it’s happening.
'We are not saying anyone is racist; we’re saying that this [the under-representation of black models) is a racist act. Disappointingly, it is the truth, it’s not fiction, the statistics speak for themselves.’
The statistics she is referring to are those identifying the ethnicity of models walking the runways at last season’s New York Fashion Week. They showed that 82.7 per cent were white, 9.1 per cent Asian, six per cent black and two per cent Latina, hardly reflecting the U.S.’s racial mix. There is a quiet anger in Campbell’s voice as she recites the numbers.
Naomi with fellow supermodels Linda Evangelista, Tatjana Patitz, Christy Turlington and Cindy Crawford. 'All of us (supermodels), we've all stayed close, we're all still there,' she said
‘I don’t feel betrayed, it’s not personal, but it is disappointing.’
So where did it go wrong? ‘Around the time of the new millennium, 2001 to 2002, that was the start.
'This isn’t a trend, it hasn’t just been happening for the last five minutes. John Galliano, Tom Ford, Jasper Conran, Azzedine Alaia, Gianni Versace, Rifat Ozbek . . . those designers all believed strongly in diversity. Now others have to reach out to their fans – women of colour are their consumers too.’
An open letter to the governing bodies of the fashion industry in New York, Paris, London and Milan, signed by Campbell, Iman and Bethann, attacked designers ranging from Victoria Beckham and Marc Jacobs to Chanel and Armani, for focusing on white models.
Campbell won’t be drawn further on the controversy.
‘We are not in the business of naming, shaming and blaming,’ she says.
'There is only going to be one Kate Moss. Kate is an icon,' said Naomi
‘We’re saying, let’s have a conversation and let’s find a solution. There’s no argument, I’m not picking a fight, but the designers need to be made aware.’
And she vehemently denies that she is seeking positive discrimination.
‘No, no, no,’ she reiterates, ‘just balance. Look, I have to speak out because today the young models can’t. If they do, they worry they might not get booked.
‘I was able to take care of myself. I was able to rise to the challenge – my whole career was based on a challenge. But now, I have nothing to lose and neither does Iman.’
In her 27-year career, Campbell has made the cover of every A-list style magazine in the world and worked with just about every major figure in the fashion industry.
In America, her performance on The Face won her a whole tranche of younger fans, who watched her scream, shout and fight like a tiger for her charges.
The show is essentially an X Factor for wannabe models and Campbell is compulsively watchable with her therapy speak, her masterclasses, her dressings-down.
‘I’m a drill sergeant. The tough love mentor. I’m being myself, 100 per cent authentic. Me. I know what these girls will have to go through. I know what will be expected of them.’
Ask her what she looks for in a model and she answers quickly.
‘Strength. You need to be tough. I look for that – I look for drive and passion and personality. It’s never just about looks.’
She pauses. ‘But I love mentoring young girls. I’ve always been like that. I did always look after people – my friends. When I told Kate Moss about the show, how I was mentoring these young girls, she watched the U.S. show and then she said: “Naomi, I was your first.”
‘It’s true. I looked after her when she first started out; she lived with me in New York. She was amazing already: she had the book (portfolio), she had the jobs, but I’d tell her what people were like, how she should be with certain people. We’re still good friends. All of us (supermodels), we’ve all stayed close, we’re all still there.’
'I've always known when I've been bad - I don't need anyone to tell me,' said Naomi
She remains very protective of the supermodel brand. The suggestion that the modelling world’s new It Girl, Cara Delevingne (with aristocratic genes to boot), might be the new Kate Moss is heresy to Campbell.
‘Cara is Cara Delevingne, Kate is Kate Moss. People are just saying that because she is the same height as Kate. But there is only going to be one Kate Moss. Kate is an icon.
‘Cara may become an icon: who knows how long she wants to do it for? It has just begun for her and she is doing amazingly well.
'I was actually asked to speak to Cara, but I don’t know her very well. I’ve met her a very few times and she’s been very pleasant. I haven’t spoken to her properly yet. For me the timing has to be right.’
Campbell is not given to introspection. It is her strength – and also her vulnerability. She doesn’t always learn, but she always keeps moving. Home, the model says, is an airplane seat.
‘I’m not complaining, I love to travel. I travel when I’m working, I travel when I’m not working. I like to see different countries.’
Whether it is because of what you know, or because of Campbell herself, or because of the bad back, there are tangible warning signs emanating from her. You can tread around certain areas but she won’t let you come too close.
In the midst of Campbell’s court, you do get glimmers of her vulnerability. She wants to be liked, it’s just that she’s not sure how to go about it – particularly with what Liz Hurley calls ‘civilians’.
Since her mid-teens she’s been on a pedestal (in her case, a catwalk); she’s been feted by millions, flown around the globe first-class, and jetted to A-list parties with just a designer dress and bikini in a bag.
Naomi aged five with her mother Valerie
Mike Tyson once summed up her attraction by saying, ‘Naomi has a great body. And she is scared of nothing.’
When she opened Paris Fashion Week for Versace a few months ago, there were audible gasps from the audience as she stomped down the catwalk. But Campbell shakes her head at Tyson’s claim.
‘People don’t believe me, but I get scared. I was double nervous in Paris. I was terrified,’ she says, as her hair is snipped and tweaked by her stylist.
‘The last time I was on that catwalk was 14 years before . . . but it was OK. I did it.’
There have been a number of men in the supermodel’s life, but the only one who seems to have had a profound and lasting effect on Campbell is not a former lover but the unlikely figure of the ailing former president of South Africa.
Nelson Mandela called Campbell his honorary granddaughter and, she says, changed her life.
She was invited to meet him by the ANC in 1994 after she made a substantial donation to its cause. She stayed at his Cape Town home, and they would spend hours talking.
Campbell herself remains confused by his friendship. She says she has ‘no idea’ why he picked her out.
‘Maybe it was because he saw me as a rebel spirit. The first time I met Mr Mandela, in 1994, I thought: “Oh my God, I’m this little girl from Streatham and I’m having lunch with this man,” and I felt completely humble. I felt blessed. I didn’t know everything about him back then.
'I learned a lot about his life after those early meetings . . . and then I got to share him with my (supermodel) friends Kate (Moss), Christy (Turlington) and Erin (O’Connor).’
On Nelson Mandela: 'He has had a massive influence on me,' she said
Most of the men in her past have either adored her or abused her, from the biological father who walked out on her when she was just a few months old (she has still never met him) to Doronin, who humiliated her by taking up with the young model she mentored on The Face. Mandela, however, just pushed her to be good.
He asked her to support his charities, encouraging her to focus her life on something other than fashion and fame.
‘I used to look at him and think: “What have I got to complain about?”
‘He always told me to use what I had for others. And I know life has its hang-ups, people get hurt, but I never want to be someone who doesn’t share. He was the reason I started doing charity work. I didn’t know I was capable of doing something like that.
‘He has had a massive influence on me – he got me working on a children’s charity. It was the first time I felt I was doing something useful, giving back to kids less fortunate than me.’
Since meeting Mandela, Campbell has raised more than £10 million for a variety of causes, from cancer to Aids, for Haiti, and African children and mothers.
‘I like to fight for a cause, to do something, even in my bad times I’d try and I’ve always known this was something I could do and should do.’
She obliquely addresses the conflicts of her character.
‘I’m one of those people who reacts immediately to something without thinking. Over the years everyone has told me to sleep on stuff, think about it, including Mr Mandela. It just took a long, long time with me for that penny to drop.
Naomi testifying in the 'blood diamonds' trial in 2010
‘Every time I’ve made a mistake he tells me to keep my head up and keep going.
'I don’t know what he sees in me, I just feel honoured to have him in my life.
'When he tells me to keep my head up, it’s hard because I feel so much shame, but a lot of it I do for him.’
She continues to talk about Mr Mandela – slowly – and then stops because she is crying.
No one moves. She gets up and grabs a towel to mop the tears dripping down her face.
‘It’s hard to talk about him,’ she says. ‘I’m trying to stay positive and optimistic. I’m praying for him like millions of other people around the world. I have a contact there I speak to – I just don’t want him to be in pain.’
It’s been a remarkable life, but Campbell has never married. She would, she says, like to have children.
‘I’m not saying that I will never be a mother. I still would love to be a mother in some way. My friends say I would be a really good mother.’
And as the presenter and producer of The Face – which, in the British version also stars her fellow models Erin O’Connor and Caroline Winberg – Campbell does get to show a more caring side. She talks about her girls, how one of them reminded her of a younger version of herself.
‘She’s not comfortable in her skin, like I wasn’t,’ she says. ‘No one told me I was beautiful when I was 14, I just remember feeling awkward.’
Ready to leave now, Campbell reflects for a moment on where her career has taken her. ‘I am lucky,’ she says.
‘I have an amazing life. I am trying to learn. I really am. When I was younger I felt a lot of confusing emotions and it was only later on that I realised so many of them were fear. And you then try to deal with that. Like I say, I’m a work in progress.’
‘The Face’ starts on September 30 at 9pm on Sky Living
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