December 22, 2022
Bella Hadid landed in legal trouble after a photographer sued her for using his photograph without giving him any monetary benefit or credit for the photo.
According to a report by Radar Online, Gigi Hadid’s sister shared a picture of herself captured by Robert O’Neil on Instagram without his permission.
The photographer claimed in his lawsuit that Bella received a “financial benefit” from the picture which also helped her increase social media traffic.
“O’Neil has invested significant time and money in building [O’Neil’s] photograph portfolio,” the court document read as per the outlet.
The image in question shows Bella in a red bandana and a navy-blue swimwear taken on December 4, 2019 by Robert, who also obtained a copyright for the photo in 2020.
“Without permission or authorization from [O’Neil], [Hadid] volitionally copied and/or displayed Plaintiff's copyright-protected Photograph on the Account,” the suit read.