“I cried... I know I’m not the prettiest but keep in mind the word usage”: Coco Gauff confronts critic over comments on her Vogue magazine cover shoot

Coco Gauff recently confronted fashion talk show host Recho Omondi who criticized the former's Vogue cover shoot with photographer Annie Leibovitz. Gauff was featured on the cover of the magazine in this year's April edition dubbed 'Game, Set, Coco!'.

For the photoshoot, Gauff wore a Michael Kors dress, had her hair done by Lacy Redway, and makeup by Raisa Flowers.

Recho Omondi, host of the fashion talk show called The Cutting Room Floor, claimed that Annie Leibovitz failed to do justice to Gauff's Polaroids a couple of days ago. Omondi was talking to stylist Law Roach, who worked with Leibovitz for a recent Vogue photoshoot involving Zendaya.

Roach opined that Gauff's pictures turned out to be beautiful but Omondi strongly disagreed.

Their conversation is written below:

"I would never trust Annie Leibovitz to take my photo ever, maybe in a different decade when she was that girl," Omondi said.

"I will say that there has been a lot of back and forth and uproar on people’s opinion of the way that Annie shoots black women. The last two shoots that I remember Annie doing is Coco, which I thought was beautiful," Roach replied.

"No, it wasn’t," Omondi claimed.

"And Zendaya, which was stunning," Roach suggested.

"I'm stressed! Coco is a ‘No’," Omondi insisted.

Coco Gauff took Omondi's comments to heart and voiced her discontent over the latter's choice of words.

"Hi! I understand your take but when criticizing please consider the people in the cover’s feelings. To say it wasn’t beautiful is a tad bit mean just say you felt it could be captured better," Gauff said.

At this, Omondi suggested that her comments were not aimed at the reigning US Open champ and she reviewed Leibovitz's work only.

"You are gorgeous. No questions asked. I was speaking directly to how it was shot. It was more of a critique of how the images were shot and not the subjects themselves! We love you Coco," Omondi replied.

Coco Gauff, however, wasn't completely relieved by Omondi's response as she continued:

"Thank you and I know that! I just felt that could've been translated better that's it. I felt beautiful at first and after all the conversations I cried and felt like it wasn't beautiful. I know I'm not a model or the prettiest but just keep in mind the word usage when criticizing."

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Coco Gauff: "It's not my favorite picture of myself but I still felt it was beautiful"

Coco Gauff

In her response, Coco Gauff further doubled down and advised Recho Omondi to talk about other technical aspects of photography if the latter didn't mean to target the subject in the frame.

"I know in the end you're trying to advocate for better but I think there's a way to do that without commenting on the beauty of the picture. Comment on lighting, angle unflattering angle etc. But to flat out say it wasn’t beautiful it’s tough," the World No. 3 added.

Notably, Coco Gauff registered her reaction to Omondi's opinion sitting in Rome as she's in the city for her 2024 Italian Open campaign.

She has already made her way to the pre-quarterfinals in the women's singles draw and is set to meet Spain's Paula Badosa on Monday, May 13. She defeated Magdalena Frech and Jacqueline Cristian in the previous rounds.