To quote one iconic tabloid column: Stars—they’re just like us.
On Monday morning, supermodel Gigi Hadid strutted toward the State Supreme Court in Manhattan to fulfill her civic responsibilities and report for jury duty. The 24-year-old was one of around 120 New Yorkers who answered the selection summons for Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial. If chosen, Hadid will help decide whether Weinstein serves a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.
Weinstein is charged with raping a woman in 2013 and forcing oral sex on another woman in 2006. (He denies the charges; Weinstein is also facing a trial in Los Angeles, where he has been charged with forcible rape and forcible oral sex, as well as sexual penetration by use of force and sexual battery by restraint. The former movie-mogul claims these interactions were consensual.)
Molly Crane-Newman, a court reporter for the New York Daily News, reported that Hadid raised her hand when Judge James Burke asked if any of the potential jurors knew anyone on the defense or prosecution. She was seated just 20 feet from Weinstein.
“I have met the defendant,” Hadid said. “I have met Salma Hayek and possibly Ryan Beatty.”
But she added, “I think I’m still able to keep an open mind on the facts.”
Hayek, currently starring in Like A Boss, published an op-ed in the New York Times in 2017 in which she claimed Weinstein harassed her when she starred in his 2002 movie Frida. Ryan Beatty is a pop singer.
Crane-Newman tweeted that Weinstein’s lawyer, Donna Rotunno, responded to the possibility of Hadid sitting on the Weinstein jury, saying, “She can be fair like everyone else.”
Earlier this week, per Deadline, Weinstein’s team submitted a motion that would have barred the media from being present during the questioning of potential jurors. Judge Burke denied the motion—and good thing, or we might have missed out both on our rights to transparent criminal justice proceedings and visuals of Hadid’s iconic courtroom fashion. (Peep her immaculate white T, oversized men’s blazer, and gold-rimmed aviators here.) But in all seriousness, it’s nice to see a famous person be a responsible citizen.
Over 2,000 New Yorkers have reportedly been summoned for selection in the Weinstein case, and hundreds have already been dismissed over scheduling issues or concerns with bias. Better to be like Hadid—show up for your country, show up for justice, show up for appropriating menswear to quietly telegraph that the violence-prone Boy’s Club in Hollywood is over, and our time has just begun. Then put that in your leopard-print bucket hat and smoke it.
Jenny Singer is a staff writer for Glamour.
