More than six months after the revelation that Aydan Nix is the half-sister of Gigi and Bella Hadid went public, the 23-year-old is sharing her side of the incredible story.
In a personal essay for The Cut, Nix, who is the child of Mohamed Hadid and Terri Hatfield Dull, connected with the Hadids in 2023, after she learned that she was related to the models from the results of a DNA test, says that her newfound famous family members have been nothing but welcoming.
"My sisters (along with the rest of the family) have been nothing but warm and generous. They have made space for me in ways they didn’t have to. They’ve been kind," she wrote in the personal essay, also revealing that Bella calls her "twin," and her half-brother Anwar referred to her as his "baby sister" during their first chat on the phone.
Nix explained that, in addition to making space for her in their private world as a family, her half-siblings have made space for her in their social and professional spheres, as well.
Since, like her famous half-siblings, Nix already worked in the fashion industry, the connections she's made since beginning to integrate into the Hadid family have led to new professional opportunities, too.
"I got to close the Desigual fashion show in Barcelona," the freelance wardrobe stylist and Parsons School of Design graduate wrote. "Gigi introduced me to her friend, Gabriella Karefa Johnson, whom I had admired not only for her styling but for her strong convictions and values. I started assisting her when times were especially busy."
Nix said all of her newfound half-siblings—including not just Gigi, Bella, and Anwar, but also Marielle Hadid and Alana Hadid, who are Mohamed's older daughters with his first wife, Mary Butler—have gone out of their way to make her feel welcome and like part of their family, but admits that she still felt out of place as she adjusted to her new reality and learn about "the childhood I would never have with five siblings I didn’t grow up with."
"No sleepovers, no shared holidays, no borrowing clothes, no inside jokes, no stories woven together," Nix wrote of the difficult side of learning that the Hadids were her half-siblings. "They had a lifetime of memories, and I felt like the odd one out."
"I was trying to find my place in a family I never knew I had; sifting through Bella’s closet and gossiping or laughing at Marielle’s jokes at dinner, but I felt a pressure from myself to somehow make up for lost time," she explained in her essay for The Cut.
In addition to helping Nix learn about their family, her half-siblings have also stepped up to help her in learning about her roots and the ancestry she had never realized she had.
"Alana sent me resources and inspired me to become active in the fight for Palestine’s freedom," she wrote. "I watched Anwar’s film Walled Off. Gigi took me for my first Palestinian meal and taught me the names of different dishes."
The DNA test results upended Nix's life in more was than one, forcing her to confront truths she hadn't known about the family she was raised with in Florida.
"At the same time, I was processing the fact that the older sister I had known my whole life didn’t share my DNA at all," Nix explained of the other ways the the genetic test changed her life."It didn’t change who she was to me, but it forced me to reorient what family meant."
In many ways, however, Nix says her life has stayed the same since learning about her connection to the Hadid family.
"I live in a tiny one-bedroom apartment in the East Village and mooch off of my mom," she explained. "I take the subway or bus to work. When the Met Gala comes, I will be working nonstop carrying 70-pound trunks up and down stairs or through the freight entrance at the Carlyle."
Going forward, Nix says she's focused on continuing to do her best like she was before—she'll just be doing it with more people watching.
"Today, I am doing my best to live my life for me and to remember that, despite a couple of extra eyes on me, my life is still my own."
