Jourdan Dunn: 'It's scary every time my sickle-cell son has a crisis. You could say I have been through a lot

Stunning model and single mother Jourdan Dunn has opened up about facing discrimination in the fashion industry and caring for her beloved son who suffers from sickle-cell disease.
Speaking in this week’s edition of net-a-porter’s digital magazine, The Edit, Dunn looks stunning in the accompanying shoot posing in a selection of current season designers including Marni, Rochas and Valentino.
Praising her mother for giving her the strength to carve a career in modelling, coping with the father of her son Riley, then a few weeks old, being sent to prison for drug dealing, and Riley’s emergency hospital admissions for his blood disorder the 22-year-old admits: ‘I guess you could say that I have been through quite a lot.'

 

Jourdan wears dress by Red Valentino, clutch by Marni, bracelet by Marc by Marc Jacobs all available at www.net-a-porter.com

 

Dress by Rochas, leather cuff and gold bangle by Valentino, bag by Marni all available at www.net-a-porter.com

Discovered at the age of 14 Dunn, from west London, first hit the mainstream when aged 17, she appeared on the Prada catwalk – the first black model to do so since Naomi Campbell 11 years earlier.

 

Since then, she has appeared on the cover of Vogue Italia, won Model of the Year at the British Fashion Awards, appeared at the Olympic Closing Ceremony and fronted campaigns for the likes of Burberry, Yves Saint Laurent and Tommy Hilfiger.

 

Shirt dress by Thakoon, belt by Lanvin, bag by Chloe, cuff by Eddie Borgo all available at www.net-a-porter.com

There were times, however, when Dunn would be on her way to castings and was called up and told to turn back because the client 'didn’t want any more black girls.'
The model admits that in the past, discrimination like this has upset her but thanks to her mother she forged on, 'She always seemed to make things work without ever complaining.'
Like her mother before her, Dunn, too, is a young single mother. It was just months after she’d been crowned Model of the Year in 2008 that she found out she was pregnant with her son, Riley, now three.

Soon after Riley was born, his father, the model’s long-term boyfriend of five years, was sent to prison for possession of cocaine with intent to sell. she says.
Her mother helps her look after Riley, who suffers from sickle-cell disease, an inherited, non-contagious blood disorder.
‘It’s scary every time he has what they call a ‘crisis’, you know, when he has to be rushed to the hospital for more oxygen and blood transfusion’ Jourdan admits.
Dunn is using her fame to raise awareness of the condition by supporting the Sickle Cell society.

 

 

Jourdan Dunn wins the award for best model at the 2008 British Fashion Awards (left) and walks the runway during the 2012 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in 2012 (right)