Transgender Victoria’s Secret model Valentina Sampaio hits back at critics after her fashion show debut

The first openly transgender Victoria’s Secret model faced backlash from critics after making her historic runway debut at the reimagined iconic fashion show on Tuesday.

Valentina Sampaio attended the lingerie extravaganza at the Duggal Greenhouse at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York City alongside fellow transgender model Alex Consani.

It was the first time transgender women were featured on the iconic show, and not all fans supported the decision.

The Brazilian model said that walking the runway at the Victoria’s Secret fashion show after a six-year absence was “a dream come true” and that she didn’t let the intense backlash override the moment.

“It was a dream come true that so many people said could never come true for me, and I just did it,” Sampaio told TMZ. “It makes me feel seen, accepted and valued as a person and as a professional.”

“It is a collective step forward in celebrating my community’s rights to live and work with dignity.”

“We are here. We’ve always been here. And we will always be here.”

In 2019, Victoria’s Secret hired Sampaio as its first “Angel,” a nickname the company removed in 2021 to redefine its image. It was the same year that Victoria’s Secret canceled its annual fashion show amid outrage and a series of controversies.

Hours before the show in 2018, former marketing executive Ed Razek told Vogue that transgender and plus-size models would not be cast because the event was a “fantasy.”

He eventually apologized for his “insensitive” comment about transgender models and retired almost a year later.

In 2021, the brand emerged from the pandemic with a “reset,” starting with curvier models and slimmed down shelves.

Seen on Tuesday’s runway were Ashley Graham, Paloma Elsesser, Kai Soleil, Devyn Garcia and Jill Kortleve, whose sizes range from 8 to 16.

Legendary supermodels Tyra Banks, Gigi Hadid and Alessandra Ambrosio also appeared on the show on Tuesday. TMZ reports that Gisele Bündchen was invited for a walk but declined the offer.

The fashion show marked Sampaio’s second time making history with Victoria’s Secret. In 2019, she became the first transgender model to be featured in an advertising campaign. Sampaio is also the first out trans person to model for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

Sampaio was born in the village of Aquiraz in northeastern Brazil. According to an interview with Business Insider, the model said a psychologist identified her as transgender when she was eight years old, but she didn’t start taking the name Valentina and identifying as a woman until she was 12.

The model’s big breakthrough came when she appeared on the cover of Vogue Paris with the headline “Transgender Beauty.”

Her agency, Lions Management, said this was the first time Vogue had featured a transgender model on a global cover and since then she has worked with major brands such as Marc Jacobs Beauty, Dior Beauty and H&M.