Australian Top Model speaks up about being bullied

After years of years of being “instructed” how to look, feel, and even act, 21-year-old model Nyadak “Duckie” Thot is embracing her inner voice.

Recently the model was bullied on her hair on which she said, it’s difficult to find skilled stylists who are familiar with her hair texture and type.

I remember shooting this Dinosaur Design campaign just before coming out here to the states. They called my agent at the time and asked if I was comfortable to shoot a campaign with my natural hair. She already knew what I was thinking but told me I needed to compromise sometimes. I won’t lie, I was extremely hesitant. I’ve never really had a good experience with my natural hair and modelling in Australia before. I remember on top model on one of the episodes I had to cornrow my own hair. I was extremely upset and embarrassed that they “didn’t know how” to cornrow my natural hair when at the end of the day that’s their job. I sat in front of the mirror silently crying before my shoot doing my own hair, cameras rolling while all the other girls had hairstylists, shit scared I was going to get eliminated because a few “hairstylists” didn’t know how to do their job. It’s not fun being bullied for something you can’t control and to have a top model woman of colour who I thought encouraged acceptance and self love call me out for rocking my natural hair, isn’t cool at all. Throw all the shade you want, but you played yourself with your cute little remark.

A photo posted by Duckie Thot ? (@duckieofficial) on Nov 27, 2016 at 4:24pm PST

In an interview, Duckie shared the story of how the Australian brand Dinosaur Designs asked her to wear her natural hair for a shoot. She was apprehensive about it at first. “I’ve never really had a good experience with my natural hair and modeling in Australia before,” Duckie wrote. “I remember on top model on one of the episodes I had to cornrow my own hair. I was extremely upset and embarrassed that they ‘didn’t know how’ to cornrow my natural hair when at the end of the day thDuckie clapped back in the classiest way ever. “It’s not fun being bullied for something you can’t control and to have a top model woman of color who I thought encouraged acceptance and self-love call me out for rocking my natural hair, isn’t cool at all,”

Further she added, “I know what it feels like to be forced to do a lot of things with your hair that you’re uncomfortable with. As a black woman in the industry and as a black woman period, it’s hard to deal with your hair,” she said. “Not a lot of people know how to deal with your hair. So please understand, from deep in my heart, I apologize if I hurt anyone’s feelings. I am human, I do crack jokes with my friends and family.”