Yolanda Hadid's Stunning Net Worth Revealed
Yolanda Hadid is a well-known model, author, and reality star who is worth an estimated $45 million (via Celebrity Net Worth). It's hardly a surprising figure — Hadid and her two daughters, Gigi and Bella Hadid, are three of the most famous models in the U.S. Hadid built herself a modeling career from the ground up. She started out as a hairstylist who was forced to walk the runway last minute. She was spotted and her career took off (via DuJour). Since then, she's appeared in multiple reality TV shows, including "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills," "Project Runway," and "Making a Model" (via IMDb), and her two daughters have become two of the most influential models of their generation.
As you may have already guessed, Hadid has done pretty well for herself. After decades of success, TV appearances, book deals, and two divorces, Hadid has amassed a jaw-dropping net worth. Let's dig a little deeper and find out how Hadid made her millions over the years.
Yolanda Hadid didn't grow up in a wealthy family, but she knew she wanted wealth
Unlike many of the world's multi-millionaires, Yolanda Hadid didn't start out with family wealth behind her. Instead, she is completely self-made. And the journey certainly wasn't an easy one; she had a long way to climb.
She was born in the Netherlands into a poor family. As she once told DuJour, she did have her own pony, but she had to work as a dishwasher at a Chinese restaurant to afford it. Clearly, she was brought up understanding that wealth and success come from hard work. After her father died when Hadid was 7, she became "money-driven." As she told Money, "I took on this huge responsibility that I was going to provide for my mother and my brother." So, even though Hadid's family was poor, from a young age, she developed a drive and a passion for earning money — no wonder she ended up as successful as she did!
She landed a contract with Ford Models and built a career as a model
Yolanda Hadid hadn't planned on modeling, but when the opportunity arose, she took it. She signed a contract with Ford Models and moved to New York into a "model home" with next to nothing. She recalled to Money, "I remember my mom gave me 100 guilders [the former Dutch currency], which was a lot of money for where I came from, and when I exchanged it, I think I ended up with like $55 in my pocket."
She also had a small allowance from her agency when she started out — as she explained, they gave her a "roll of quarters" so that she could afford to travel to meetings. Even though Hadid had practically nothing during the early days of her career, she remained determined to earn a living. As she put it, "I was hungry to survive and my mom gave me a great set of tools, a great work ethic, and I guess destiny puts you on your path."
Before too long, she'd travel to cities like Sydney, Paris, Milan, and Tokyo for modeling gigs (via Celebrity Net Worth), surely racking up a decent amount of money.
Yolanda Hadid focused on saving and investing in real estate
It's easy to see how Yolanda Hadid managed to make her fortune, even with no family wealth to get her started. Not only did she have the drive to succeed, she was also always smart with her money. As a young, successful model in New York City, it would have been easy for Hadid to throw it all away on parties, cars, and designer clothes. Instead, she was smart about her finances.
"I was keeping tally marks for every thousand dollars I was making," she told Money. "I came here to make money and go home and buy my horses and take care of my family and continue my life in Holland — America is just so great for that," she went on. In other words, Hadid had a plan — she was making money for her family, and one day, she would go back.
Not only did she keep track of her earnings, she also avoided spending. However, she did make one smart investment at 21: a Los Angeles apartment. She explained, "That was probably a good move because I sold it many, many years later, and made a lot of money off it. I was always interested in how I could make money."
Yolanda Hadid received millions after her first divorce
Yolanda Hadid was married to the multi-millionaire tycoon Mohamed Hadid from 1994 to 2000 (via Us Weekly). When the pair split up, Yolanda added significantly to her overall net worth through their divorce settlement. According to E! News, Hadid's net worth was around $45 million in 2016, thanks largely to her divorce settlement with Mohamed.
Radar Online reported in 2012 that her divorce settlement with Mohamed included numerous payouts. Apparently, their divorce agreement stipulated that she would keep their Santa Barbara mansion, worth $6 million, along with an Arabian horse, their business Hadid Interiors, a Range Rover, an Escalade, a home in Malibu, and "several bank accounts." As if all of that weren't enough, she also received a payout of $3.6 million, $30,000 a month in child support (for their three children, Gigi, Bella, and Anwar Hadid), and $10,000 a month in spousal support. Clearly, this divorce made Yolanda a whole lot richer!
Yolanda Hadid may have earned six figures for every episode of Real Housewives
While Yolanda Hadid could easily have lived off of her earnings from her divorce from her first husband, she was never the type to take things easy. Instead, she kept working. From 2012 to 2016, she starred in the reality show "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills," a show that followed some of the richest women in L.A.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Hadid earned a staggering $100,000 for every single episode of the show. According to IMDb, Hadid appeared in 89 episodes of the show, along with one episode of "The Real Housewives of New York City." Over the course of her four years on the show, then, Hadid may have earned a mind-blowing $9 million! Notably, Hadid left the show in 2016 to focus on her health and her family, as she wrote on Instagram at the time.
Yolanda Hadid received a 'generous' divorce settlement from David Foster
In 2015, Yolanda Hadid split up with her husband of four years, composer David Foster. As the model wrote in her book "Believe Me," she and Foster had tried to keep finances out of the picture during their marriage. "I married David for love and not to be taken care of," she wrote. "I understand he's sensitive around finances." Presumably for that very reason — in part, at least — Hadid continued working throughout their marriage (via ET).
However, when Yolanda Hadid and David Foster divorced, they did, of course, have to make some financial arrangements. According to TMZ, the couple did actually have a prenup in place, which led to a property settlement but no spousal support. Instead, the prenup included a stipulation that Hadid would receive a payout. As one source said, "Yolanda isn't getting enough to retire," but she was getting a "generous" amount.
Yolanda Hadid has sold some property over the years
As Yolanda Hadid told Money, she bought her first apartment in L.A. when she was just 21 years old. She explained that she sold it years later and "made a lot of money off it." According to the Los Angeles Times, Hadid made more money from real estate in 2017, when she sold another L.A. property for $4.995 million. Apparently, she had only purchased the condo a year previously for $4.59 million, so she certainly made a decent profit on the home (via Trulia).
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Hadid purchased a plot of land in Malibu for $4.5 million in 2007, where she built a three-story, six-bedroom mansion for her family (via Architectural Digest). She listed the home in 2013 for $23.5 million, but the property didn't sell until 2016, when billionaire Robert F. Smith purchased the house for $19.5 million. We may never know her net gain on that property, but it's safe to say that Hadid's many realty ventures have mostly added to her overall net worth.
She slowed down after her Lyme disease diagnosis, but still found time to write a book
In 2012, Yolanda Hadid was diagnosed with Lyme disease, as noted by Today. When her symptoms first appeared, she continued working hard. She told Vogue, "My body sent me early warning signs, but my type-A personality didn't leave me much room to be vulnerable with myself. I fought tooth and nail to keep things together in front of my family and friends, but as things got progressively worse, there was no hiding from the truth anymore." Eventually, Hadid realized she needed to slow down and take care of herself. As she put it, "My 'new normal' is much slower and more in tune with who I am. I've also learned to love my authentic self with all my imperfections." While Hadid was no longer working and bringing in new money, she was also probably spending less during this period.
Plus, Hadid also got to work on her memoir, "Believe Me; My Battle with the Invisible Disability of Lyme Disease," during this period. GalleyCat announced her book deal with St. Martin's Press in 2016. We don't know exactly how much the book deal was worth, but it's safe to say that she added to her bottom line when the book was released in 2018.
Yolanda Hadid continued earning on shows like Making a Model
In 2018, Yolanda Hadid returned to television with the show "Making a Model." As the executive producer and host of the show, Hadid certainly added to her bottom line with the one season of "Making a Model." There were eight episodes in total, and if she earned the $100,000 per episode that she made on "Real Housewives" (via Celebrity Net Worth), Hadid would have added another $800,000 to her net worth.
However, as Hadid was also a producer on the show, she may have had some of her own finances tied up in the show. Unfortunately, the show was canceled mid-way through its first season, with half of the episodes "burned off," meaning they were aired in the middle of the night due to poor viewing figures, according to reality TV blog Tamara Tattles. Based on the success (or lack of success) of "Making a Model," Hadid probably didn't make a huge return with this project.
Yolanda Hadid has two homes and saves her money
Yolanda Hadid is still trying to live a quiet, low-key life, despite her ever-increasing wealth. These days, she splits her time between a New York City apartment, a farm in Pennsylvania, and a farm in the Netherlands, where she was born. In 2018, she told Money, "My happiness is buying a little pony, feeding my cows and my goats, and getting my fresh eggs from my chickens, so that's really where my joy is." She went on, "We're just hopping around shoveling the s*** and getting back to our roots." Sounds like she's left her lavish lifestyle of Beverly Hills behind and is focusing on spending her money on living well.
In fact, apparently, she only really spends money on alternative medicine and holistic healthcare to treat her Lyme disease. And by the sounds of things, her current lifestyle probably means that she is saving more than ever.