DAVID BOWIE - IMAN WAS 'OSTRACISED' BY SUCCESS

IMAN WAS 'OSTRACISED' BY SUCCESS

DAVID BOWIE's supermodel wife IMAN felt isolated when she moved to the U.S. - because many African-Americans resented her success.
The Somalian-born beauty emigrated to America in 1975 after she was discovered by photographer Peter Beard, and she soon landed her first modelling job with Vogue magazine.
But she quickly realised her position as the world's first black supermodel was eyed with suspicion - and compares her plight to that of African-American slaves who worked indoors and were often disliked by those forced to toil in cotton fields.
She tells Parade magazine, "I did feel a bit ostracised. You suddenly represent a whole race, and that race goes, 'Well, that person does not represent our ideals of beauty.'
"For lack of a better term, it becomes what it was like during slavery. One had the field n**ger and the house n**ger. There was this notion that I was chosen by white fashion editors to be better than the rest, which I am not.
"I did not like being thought of as the house n**ger whether it was spoken or whether it was understood. It always left a bad taste in my mouth. I call it 'the politics of beauty' because fashion can sometimes be an assault on one's identity."