Winnie Harlow – “America’s Next Top Model” Really Didn’t Do Anything For My Career

Winnie Harlow – America’s Next Top Model Really Didn’t Do Anything For My Career

Canadian model Winnie Harlow, whose real name is Chantelle Brown-Young, has changed the face of fashion… literally. At the age of four, Harlow was diagnosed with vitiligo, an incurable skin pigmentation disease that causes colorless patches to develop on a person’s body. She admits to being bullied so bad at school that she was forced to drop out and be home schooled.

Now, at 23, Harlow has been making strides in the fashion world well after her stint on U.S. television series, America’s Next Top Model.

Tyra Banks

After being discovered by Tyra Banks on Instagram, the Toronto native was introduced to the public eye when she joined the show in its twenty-first cycle, becoming the first Canadian to compete on the series. Harlow became one of the fourteen finalists during the show in 2014 and after being eliminated in the second week of finals was brought back in what was known as the “comeback series,” before ultimately being eliminated again, placing sixth overall. She was even revealed to have received the highest average public vote score during her time on ANTM. She says,

That’s why I went on, because I thought like THAT was going to be a career starter but it was really like a reality TV show, but that’s not what I signed up for. 

Harlow recently sat down with Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live shutting down any notion that ANTM started her success. In the interview when asked at what point she realized that she made it, Harlow admits,

It really started after the show, because that didn’t really do anything for my career, which it really doesn’t do anything for any model’s career, realistically.

She credits her start on the fashion scene to photographer Nick Knight stating, “He was like ‘hey I’ve seen your photos online an I want to do a shoot with you’, and she expressed that “it went viral and I got campaigns from there and it hasn’t stopped since.

While, she believes ANTM did not really launch her career she does say,

It was still a part of my history and I’m really grateful for everything that I’ve done to get where I am.

After her comments about ANTM went viral, Winnie posted the following on social media.

By:@im_sly