"I’ll always respect him": Bella Hadid opens up on how she feels about ex The Weeknd in throwback interview

American supermodel Bella Hadid and R&B star The Weeknd aka Abel Tesfaye's romance stirred quite the gossip in celebrity circles and media alike. They met in 2015 when The Weeknd asked the Victoria's Secret model to be on the artwork for his studio album Beauty Behind the Madness, and she even featured in his music video for In the Night. The two dated on and off for many years before finally calling it quits in 2019.

In an interview with Teen Vogue in 2017, Bella Hadid, fresh out of a break-up with The Weeknd, talked about how the break-up made her feel towards the singer.

“I’ll always respect him, and I’ll always love him,” the supermodel said.

Bella Hadid said in throwback interview that she will always love and respect ex The Weeknd (Image via Getty)

The model talked about experiencing conflicting emotions post break-up. She said that at times the separation saddened her or she wished she had handled things different so their relationship could have gone down a different path, but at the end of it all, she doesn't want to completely break off the bond, and instead she insisted on remaining friends despite their differences.

“Sometimes you want to be sad about it or handle it differently, but at the end of the day, you never want to burn a bridge that you’ve fought so hard to build,” the 26-year-old reflected.

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Bella Hadid on how the break up impacted her

In the interview with Teen Vogue, the fashion mogul admitted it was her first, or second very public break-up, which made things even more difficult for her. The constant media scrutiny and reportage that the couple received was too much for the model to cope with.

Even as someone who had been in the limelight for the most part of her life, the media attention worried her.

“It was my first breakup—or second, next to the horse—and so public,” the model said.

Hadid claimed that it was the second most traumatising separation of her life, the first one being when she had to give away her beloved horse Lego when her horse riding career came to an end.

The Victoria's Secret angel also opened up about how she handled the second most difficult break-up of her life. She said that even if she looks like she's fine after the separation to the onlookers and fans, she didn't handle the break-up well.

On the inside, she feels it "very heavily", and admits that even though its "hard" at the beginning, one has to pull themselves through.

Bella Hadid said:

“As an outsider, you might think I handled it so well, but it’s always in your heart, and you always feel it very heavily. It’ll be hard for a while. Love hurts, but you have to pull through.”

The Weeknd went on to date Selena Gomez after separation (Image via Getty)

After going their separate ways briefly before coming back together again, The Weeknd and Selena Gomez started seeing each other, and the couple made their red carpet debut at the MET gala 2017.

The duo met eachother at the 2015 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, where they both performed on the runway. The Weeknd had an especially awkward moment as he had to encounter his ex-girlfriend walk past him during his performance.

The Weeknd and Selena Gomez dated from January 2017 to October 2017, after which the Blinding Lights singer went back to dating Bella Hadid before parting ways permanently in 2019.

Bella Hadid and Marc Kaplan dated for two years before going separate ways (Image via Bella Hadid's Instagram)

Bella Hadid came back on the dating scene when she began to date art director Marc Kalman in 2021. The two dated for two years but have reportedly split amicably in 2023.