During her 30 years in the spotlight, Naomi Campbell has dominated headlines and turned heads with all kinds of fashion moments... but there has also been a whole lot of dramatic and, occasionally, ridiculous scenes along the way too.
Anyone who’s followed Naomi’s career closely will attest that subtle has never exactly been her style, which has arguably helped put her where she is today.
As the groundbreaking supermodel (and, depending on who you ask, legendary diva) celebrates her birthday, we’re celebrating Naomi’s life and career with 21 times she was completely over-the-top in a way only she could pull off...
1. First of all, her zealous approach to airline cleanliness – as evidenced in this video she shared last year – is a must-see
2. And she cranked things up a fair few notches in the early stages of the coronavirus outbreak
3. Her YouTube channel also gifted us with this video of her basically doing a big shop, which is oddly soothing
4. Not to mention this lockdown video of herself trying on her old Met Gala outfits just for the hell of it
(And check out the camera-man)
5. However, Naomi doesn’t always get it right first time when it comes to social media, as evidenced by this tweet about Malala
Twitter
6. Naomi’s reality show The Face gave us countless iconic moments. Here she is, for example, losing it over one model’s “diabolical” efforts on the catwalk
7. Here she is brandishing a riding crop to... we suppose “motivate” her mentees?
Sky Living
8. Here she is serving up a perfect Disney villain stomp after learning that two of her mentees had been fighting on the set of a photo-shoot
9. And here she is telling a fellow judge – we stress, not a contestant, a fellow *judge* – not to “compare yourself to me” because “you are not on my level and you will never be”
10. A lot is made of Naomi’s diva reputation, but she does know how to have some fun, too. Like the time she gave Alan Carr some modelling tips
11. Or her appearance on Celebrity Gogglebox with Noel Gallagher and Kate Moss, which was all kinds of brilliant
12. Not to mention playing up to her persona in this wild advert for the *checks notes* Vauxhall Corsa?!?!
13. What you might not know about Naomi Campbell is that while she’s been in music videos for Michael Jackson, Bob Marley and even Madonna’s x-rated Erotica clip…
14. ...she briefly launched her own music career, releasing the the oft-overlooked Babywoman in 1994
15. And who could forget her incredibly camp foray into acting when she landed a role in Empire?
16. Or her brief but memorable (oh, and completely ridiculous) cameo as herself in Ugly Betty?
17. But of course, what Naomi is probably most renowned for these days is her shade-throwing. Like the time she was asked about Kendall Jenner’s quotes about being a “supermodel”...
18. ...or the slightly unsettling laugh she gave when asked about Kim and Kanye’s Vogue cover…
19. ...or her anything-but-subtle “I’m an actress now, Andy” when asked whether she’d fallen out with Rihanna
20. Our favourite of them all, though, is probably the moment she was asked about an incident at the Harper’s Bazaar Icons party