Aden said: “As I’ve said many times… being a minority inside of a minority inside of a minority is never easy.
“Being a ‘hijabi’ is truly a journey with lots of highs and lows.”
After she made her first break, the model was keen to represent her faith and community on a mainstream platform – writing that she was “so desperate” for any “representation” that she had “lost touch” with who she was.
Aden added she often put herself in compromising positions – including missing obligatory prayer times in the Islamic faith and agreeing to being draped with a pair of jeans in place of a headscarf.
After the jeans shoot with American Eagle Outfitters, Aden said she “sobbed” in her hotel room.
While the campaign encouraged consumers to “find your style” – Aden said she felt she had lost her own.
The model usually chooses to wear longer skirts and dress styles as a visible marker of modesty – but she said swapping jeans for a hijab cheapened and compromised her act of worship.
She said: “But… this isn’t even my style?? Never was. Why did I allow them to put jeans on my head when at the time I had only ever worn skirts and long dresses?
“I went back to my hotel room & just sobbed after this shoot because deep down I knew this wasn’t it. But was too scared to speak up.
“The truth is I was very UNCOMFORTABLE. This just ain’t me.”
She said what she went through was a “common struggle” – particularly among minority groups in fields where they are underrepresented.
Aden said people would “slowly start compromising” their most basic principles in order to “fit in”.
She told her fans on Twitter not to “sell out” and said she blamed herself for caring “more about the opportunity” than “what was actually at stake”.
She said her mother helped anchor her through the constant struggles of balancing conformity with retaining aspects of her personal cultural identity.
Aden said she would keep modelling, but only if her hijab is “visible” in a way that is deemed appropriate to her.
She said: “If my hijab can’t be this visible- I’m not showing up period.
“This is the standard moving forward if you want to work with me. Come correct or don’t come at all.”
