Model Gigi Hadid Fights Off Prankster at Milan Fashion Show
Jennifer Newton
9/23/2016 10:43:19 AM
Supermodel Gigi Hadid says she had every right to defend herself after she furiously lashed out at a man while leaving a fashion show in Milan when he grabbed her from behind and tried to pick her up.
The 21-year-old is in the Italian city for Milan Fashion Week and was leaving the Max Mara show earlier today, which she took part in.
However, as the model made her way to a waiting car hand in hand with her sister Bella, the man, believed to be serial prankster Vitalii Sediuk, grabbed her taking her by surprise and forcing her to fight him off.
And after the incident, Gigi took to Twitter to defend her actions saying the prankster had no right to man handle her.
She wrote: 'I am a HUMAN BEING and had EVERY RIGHT to defend myself. How dare that idiot think he has a right to man handle a complete stranger. He ran quick tho...' (sic).
The incident happened this morning in Milan as the model made her way to a waiting car with Bella, where Sediuk appeared to linger around as she posed for selfies with fans.
And as she walked towards her car, he then grabbed the American from behind, picking her up off the ground.
A furious Gigi then lashed out using her fists and elbows to fight him off as Bella, 19, shouted: 'Let go of her!' and scrambled to free her sister.
Sediuk eventually put her back down on her feet, but she then tried to storm after him when he ran off, yelling: 'Who the f*** are you, you piece of s***.'
Eventually security intervened and she was whisked away, looking shaken and carrying her sunglasses, which nearly fell off her head.
The sisters then got into a waiting car but not before Gigi tapped a security man on the shoulder and pointed saying 'can you go find that man.'
After the stunt, Sediuk took to Instagram where he explained he carried out the prank in protest at Gigi and her fellow model friend Kendall Jenner being considered 'high fashion' while also making a dig at American Vogue editor Anna Wintour.
He wrote: 'While I consider Gigi Hadid beautiful, she and her friend Kendall Jenner, have nothing to do with high fashion. By doing this I encourage fashion industry to put true talents on the runway and Vogue covers instead of well-connected cute girls from Instagram.
'You can call it a manifest or a protest. This is also a wake up call for Anna Wintour who turned Vogue into tabloid by putting Kardashians and other doubtful celebrities on a cover of a well-respected magazine.'
Gigi and sister Bella have had a whirlwind few weeks after taking part in New York, London and Milan fashion weeks back to back.
She had only arrived in Italy on Tuesday and has been treating the sidewalk as her very own catwalk with numerous outfit changes.
Earlier in the week, Gigi was in the English capital with sister Bella, 19, and close pals Hailey Baldwin, 19, and Stella Maxwell, 25.
She was also spotted with boyfriend, ex-One Direction star Zayn Malik, putting on an extremely affectionate display as they headed to watch Bella walk the runway in the LFW Versus show.
The singer and his model girlfriend only had eyes for each other as they arrived hand-in-hand at the catwalk event in an impeccably stylish fashion.
However today's stunt is not the first time Ukrainian prankster Sediuk has angered a celebrity by ambushing them at an event.
In 2014, he broke on to the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of Angelina Jolie film Maleficent and tried to bury his face in the crotch of her now estranged husband Brad Pitt.
A melee later ensued leaving the actor with broken sunglasses after he was hit in the face and Sediuk was later sentenced to 30 days in jail.
The incident came as he was on probation for rushing the stage at the Grammy in 2014 where Jennifer Lopez was presenting fellow singer Adele with her award, forcing her to shoo him away.
Later that year he also accosted Kim Kardashian at Paris Fashion Week as she made her way to the Balmain show.
He almost knocked the reality TV star to the ground when when he tried to hug her, in front of husband Kanye West and her mother Kris Jenner.
However, he later told MailOnline: 'I hope Kim is OK and won't be mad at me as I didn't mean any harm. Kanye is one lucky man as Kim is a goddess!'
Sediuk has also had run ins with America Ferrera, Leonardo DiCaprio, model Miranda Kerr and Anna Wintour.
The 21-year-old is in the Italian city for Milan Fashion Week and was leaving the Max Mara show earlier today, which she took part in.
However, as the model made her way to a waiting car hand in hand with her sister Bella, the man, believed to be serial prankster Vitalii Sediuk, grabbed her taking her by surprise and forcing her to fight him off.
And after the incident, Gigi took to Twitter to defend her actions saying the prankster had no right to man handle her.
She wrote: 'I am a HUMAN BEING and had EVERY RIGHT to defend myself. How dare that idiot think he has a right to man handle a complete stranger. He ran quick tho...' (sic).
The incident happened this morning in Milan as the model made her way to a waiting car with Bella, where Sediuk appeared to linger around as she posed for selfies with fans.
And as she walked towards her car, he then grabbed the American from behind, picking her up off the ground.
A furious Gigi then lashed out using her fists and elbows to fight him off as Bella, 19, shouted: 'Let go of her!' and scrambled to free her sister.
Sediuk eventually put her back down on her feet, but she then tried to storm after him when he ran off, yelling: 'Who the f*** are you, you piece of s***.'
Eventually security intervened and she was whisked away, looking shaken and carrying her sunglasses, which nearly fell off her head.
The sisters then got into a waiting car but not before Gigi tapped a security man on the shoulder and pointed saying 'can you go find that man.'
After the stunt, Sediuk took to Instagram where he explained he carried out the prank in protest at Gigi and her fellow model friend Kendall Jenner being considered 'high fashion' while also making a dig at American Vogue editor Anna Wintour.
He wrote: 'While I consider Gigi Hadid beautiful, she and her friend Kendall Jenner, have nothing to do with high fashion. By doing this I encourage fashion industry to put true talents on the runway and Vogue covers instead of well-connected cute girls from Instagram.
'You can call it a manifest or a protest. This is also a wake up call for Anna Wintour who turned Vogue into tabloid by putting Kardashians and other doubtful celebrities on a cover of a well-respected magazine.'
Gigi and sister Bella have had a whirlwind few weeks after taking part in New York, London and Milan fashion weeks back to back.
She had only arrived in Italy on Tuesday and has been treating the sidewalk as her very own catwalk with numerous outfit changes.
Earlier in the week, Gigi was in the English capital with sister Bella, 19, and close pals Hailey Baldwin, 19, and Stella Maxwell, 25.
She was also spotted with boyfriend, ex-One Direction star Zayn Malik, putting on an extremely affectionate display as they headed to watch Bella walk the runway in the LFW Versus show.
The singer and his model girlfriend only had eyes for each other as they arrived hand-in-hand at the catwalk event in an impeccably stylish fashion.
However today's stunt is not the first time Ukrainian prankster Sediuk has angered a celebrity by ambushing them at an event.
In 2014, he broke on to the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of Angelina Jolie film Maleficent and tried to bury his face in the crotch of her now estranged husband Brad Pitt.
A melee later ensued leaving the actor with broken sunglasses after he was hit in the face and Sediuk was later sentenced to 30 days in jail.
The incident came as he was on probation for rushing the stage at the Grammy in 2014 where Jennifer Lopez was presenting fellow singer Adele with her award, forcing her to shoo him away.
Later that year he also accosted Kim Kardashian at Paris Fashion Week as she made her way to the Balmain show.
He almost knocked the reality TV star to the ground when when he tried to hug her, in front of husband Kanye West and her mother Kris Jenner.
However, he later told MailOnline: 'I hope Kim is OK and won't be mad at me as I didn't mean any harm. Kanye is one lucky man as Kim is a goddess!'
Sediuk has also had run ins with America Ferrera, Leonardo DiCaprio, model Miranda Kerr and Anna Wintour.