Naomi Campbell allegedly banned from Met Gala due to fallout with Anna Wintour

Naomi Campbell is reportedly not attending the 2025 Met Gala following a breakdown in relations with Vogue’s editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour. The decision comes after a public exchange between the pair at a fashion event last year.

Campbell has long been a Met Gala fixture and appeared on 66 Vogue covers during her career. However, her absence from this year’s guest list has raised questions across the fashion world. Sources close to the event suggest that the supermodel’s on-stage comments directed at Wintour in 2024 may have prompted the exclusion.

The feud reportedly began during New York Fashion Week at the Harlem’s Fashion Row ceremony, where Wintour referred to Campbell’s well-known lateness while presenting. “I am a very punctual person,” Wintour said to the crowd, “and I have the honour of presenting tonight to someone who is often late.” Campbell, who arrived significantly after the event started, missed Wintour’s segment entirely, leaving Harper’s Bazaar editor Samira Nasr to present her award instead.

In her acceptance speech, Campbell responded, “It wasn’t my choice to have the other lady, I’d much rather have this one,” a comment that reportedly did not sit well with Wintour.

A source told The Sun, “Naomi shot herself in the stiletto with that comment. You don’t throw shade at the queen of fashion and still expect to walk her red carpet.”

Although Campbell has since claimed she was stepping back from the Met Gala due to age and stress, saying in a recent YouTube video, “It is my last. I’m too old. It’s too much for me, the anxiety,” insiders suggest her absence is far from voluntary.

This year’s gala, themed “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” takes place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art with co-chairs including Colman Domingo, Pharrell Williams, Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky, and LeBron James.