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Naomi CAMPBELL
SHAFRAZI: We all come from different places and backgrounds, but to make something of oneself, of course, is due to a mix of determination, chance, good fortune, and blessing. But it’s also due to the people one meets along the way—the people who help with their influence and their guidance. You’ve become close with so many enormously influential people in your life. I know that a number of years ago you referred to [former record-label executive and founder of Island Records] Chris Blackwell as your father. And when I speak to him and hear the way he refers to you, he seems to accept that responsibility. You seem to have a similar relationship with Quincy Jones. How would you describe the relationships you’ve forged with these men?
CAMPBELL: It’s the same as with Azzedine. I’ve never known my real father, and I’ve never looked for a father figure in a boyfriend, but I suppose I have looked for real father figures in my life—and I’ve acquired more than one. I certainly couldn’t ask for better ones. I love them enormously—and they know that.
SHAFRAZI: Nelson Mandela is another one of those father figures.
CAMPBELL: I call him granddad. He named me his honorary granddaughter.
SHAFRAZI: When did you meet him?
CAMPBELL: In ’92. I have to pinch myself sometimes because who in the world doesn’t want to know Nelson Mandela? But I’ve been extremely blessed to have been in his presence many times. I just saw him about five weeks ago. I spent time with him. I sat next to him and held his hand. He’s someone who I often think about when things get tough and life isn’t full of roses. Nothing can be as hard as what he went through. Now, I don’t have his constitution for forgiving. I hope one day to acquire that. But I don’t hold grudges either. When things happen, I just kind of want to move away from them for a while and hope that things will come back in a more positive light.
SHAFRAZI: Having been raised by a single parent, it’s interesting how not knowing your father led you, in a way, to seek other fathers and to look for what’s admirable in certain people.
CAMPBELL: Well, I’ve never made an excuse of not knowing my father, because I’ve had great people in my life. I have a great mother, and she has met each and every one of these men we’ve spoken about. But you do just meet these people in your life who you connect with and love in that way. I can’t explain it any other way. It’s just a special bond where you respect and admire and look up to them. It also has to do with loyalty. I am loyal to the people in my life and will always be. That’s the way I was raised. But I get to spend private time with these people. It’s not a kind of public adulation. That’s something else that our friend Bob always told me was important: quality time.
SHAFRAZI: Bob was a good inspiration for you.
CAMPBELL: Bob was a big inspiration. I may not have understood how big because I was so young, but whatever he gave me stayed with me until I finally got it. I think of these people as my family, and I surround myself with my strength and the people I look up to and respect. I’ll tell you, a vision I remember is being invited to this dinner four or five years ago. It was hosted by Sol Kerzner [the South African hotel magnate] and Robert De Niro at the Tribeca Grill, and I think it was one of the last dinners that Mr. Mandela was at in New York. It was amazing, though, because the first time I ever saw him in the flesh was at a dinner in that same building. So to be back in the same place with him all those years later was very special. Sean [Penn] and Leo [DiCaprio] were there. But what was really amazing was when Muhammad Ali walked into the room. To see him with Mr. Mandela—that’s something I’ll never forget.
SHAFRAZI: Seeing these two men together who are like giants or saintly figures . . .
CAMPBELL: Seeing two people who have suffered in their own countries, but still withstood all the obstacles, as you might say, and remain standing.
SHAFRAZI: When did you first become interested in Africa? How did the work you do there begin?
CAMPBELL: I think when I went to Tanzania at the end of ’92 is when my relationship with the African world really began. I went there for work and I was very much moved by what I saw. So I decided to donate the money from the job I’d gone there to do to the ANC [African National Congress], and I’ve been involved in various organizations and charities ever since. I just kept it on the down-low for a long time. That’s how I chose to go about it. Of course, now times have changed, and you need the media to create awareness, so . . . times change. Right now what I really care about is the women I represent and how I represent them in the African world. I want to help open that up. I have some ideas . . . I haven’t got a concrete plan, but that’s what my focus is on. Even with all of the stuff that’s happened in the past few weeks, I will not stop doing the work that I do. I won’t. You know, I’ve been offered jobs by companies that supported apartheid many times in the 25 years of my modeling career, but I have never taken one of them. I have to refuse that money, because I’m not going to work against my people. They’ve suffered enough.
I’M NOT GOING TO WALLOW IN SELF-PITY AND NOT LIVE MY LIFE. THERE ARE ALWAYS GOING TO BE SOME FALLS IN LIFE FOR EVERYBODY, NO MATTER WHAT CAREER YOU HAVE. YOU HAVE TO ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES AND KEEP GOING.—NAOMI CAMPBELL
SHAFRAZI: You’ve done a lot of philanthropic work with organizations that aid women and children and people in devastated areas outside of Africa, like India and Haiti. How do you decide where to focus your energies?
CAMPBELL: I just decide. When someone who I highly respect comes to me and says, “We need your help,” I listen to what they have to say, and if I feel a passionate connection to what they’re telling me right away, then I’m there—I’m in. I started this charity, Fashion for Relief, in 2005, after Hurricane Katrina happened. New Orleans was actually the first place I visited in the United States. It was one of my first big jobs, a shoot for British Elle. It was April 14, 1986. Martin Brading was the photographer and Lucinda Chambers was the editor. So when Katrina happened, I had this feeling of looking at the television and seeing my people on the streets, having nowhere to fucking go . . . I was just like, “What do we do?” It felt personal to me. We had seven days until Fashion Week started in New York, so I called up Teddy Forstmann at IMG and said, “Listen, I really need your help. Could you give me the tent at the last slot on the last night of Fashion Week?” And I explained to him what I was thinking, that we would do a fashion show using clothes that were donated by designers, and then auction them off and use the money to support the people of New Orleans. I wasn’t even with IMG at the time, so they didn’t really have to support it [Campbell is now represented by IMG]. But they were really gracious and said yes—and they’ve been very supportive of Fashion for Relief ever since. We’ve done shows now in India, Tanzania, London, New York again, and London again . . .
SHAFRAZI: You do shows everywhere.
CAMPBELL: Yeah. And designers from all over the world give items of clothing to be auctioned. They’ve also gotten into artists giving stuff. We just did an event in Russia called NEON, with Dasha [Zhukova]. We’ve gotten all kinds of people involved. People want to help, but sometimes they just don’t know how to do it.
SHAFRAZI: I understand that you’re very careful about how the funds you help raise are spent. People have to get your approval before they spend money on anything, and show you receipts and things . . .
CAMPBELL: We watch every penny—every penny. I’m not going to ask people I know to commit and give to something and have it be misleading. For example, most people don’t realize that a lot of the people who died in the attacks on the Taj Mahal hotel and the Oberoi hotel in Bombay in 2008 didn’t survive because there were not enough ambulances. People died because of the attacks—we know that. But Bombay is a big city, and others died because they didn’t have the amenities. So we went there and did a show and raised money for ambulances.
SHAFRAZI: Did it work?
CAMPBELL: Well, you know, in charity, every little bit works. You can’t change the world. You can’t do everything. But you sure try to bring awareness and do as much as you can. One of the people who I respect so much is Sean Penn. I think most people feel the same way about him. I respect him on many levels, but just the way that he doesn’t talk about what he hears, but rather, what he sees.
SHAFRAZI: He’s been in Haiti basically nonstop since the earthquake in January.
CAMPBELL: He’s a doer. He’s not one of those who just says—he does. What’s that Nike phrase—“Just do it?”
SHAFRAZI: In your travels, you’ve also had an opportunity to meet the leaders of many South American countries, including Hugo Chávez [president of Venezuela and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner [president of Argentina].
CAMPBELL: Yes. British GQ sent me to interview them both, which was a great experience. I actually spent a lot of time with Chávez—he took me around and showed me some of the work that was being done in hospitals. I’ve also met with President Lula [Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva] of Brazil, about an initiative I was working on to help children in the favelas.
SHAFRAZI: You just celebrated your 40th birthday in May. What are you looking forward to in your next 40 years? What do you think the future holds? I know it’s a big question . . .
CAMPBELL: Yeah . . . [laughs]
SHAFRAZI: Huge.
CAMPBELL: I just want to be quiet. I just want to live my life.
Tony Shafrazi is the owner of Tony Shafrazi Gallery in New York.
This is an excerpt of the cover story. To read the full Naomi Campbell interview pick up a copy of the October issue of Interview.
