Twenty-three-year-old Winnie Harlow is a lot of things. She's a model, a friend, a daughter. But the one thing Winnie Harlow certainly is not, is a "vitiligo sufferer."
While Harlow does have vitiligo, a condition which causes skin to lose pigmentation, that doesn't mean that she is suffering from it, or even that she's defined by it.
After seeing London newspaper The Evening Standard refer to her as a "Canadian vitiligo sufferer," Harlow took to Instagram to make it clear she has no time for publications that victimize her writing, "I’m not a 'Vitiligo Sufferer'. I’m not a 'Vitiligo model'. I am Winnie. I am a model. And i happen to have Vitiligo."
"I AM NOT SUFFERING," Harlow wrote, "If anything I’m SUCCEEDING at showing people that their differences don’t make them WHO they are!"
Harlow continued on, calling out the problems with exclusive beauty standards writing, "The only thing I’m Suffering from are your headlines and the closed minds of humans who have one beauty standard locked into their minds when there are multiple standards of beauty!"
This isn't the first time Harlow has spoken out against only being referred to as the model with vitiligo. In an interview with Elle back in 2016, Harlow said, "I am literally just a human. I have the same brain as you; there’s a skeleton under my skin just like yours. It’s not that serious."
While vitiligo doesn't define Harlow, it's clear that her presence in the beauty and fashion industry has inspired countless others with vitiligo to embrace their true selves.
