Gigi Hadid criticized for reacting like a normal human after being grabbed in the street

While leaving the Max Mara show in Milan on September 22nd, Gigi Hadid was unexpectedly grabbed by a man, who then proceeded to pick her up. Like most people would in a scary situation like this, she reacted by screaming and fighting the man off with her elbows. After he finally released her, he took off down the street while she screamed at him.

Basically, she was attacked and she reacted accordingly. But some have criticized the model for overreacting and being violent.

According to The Sun who published a stand alone image of the young model elbowing the attacker in the face, Gigi’s assailant was a known “prankster” — which apparently makes it okay to physically assault her.

“Gigi used her elbow to strike out at the man, now known to be serial prankster Vitalii Sediuk, after he lifted her off the ground,” the article reads.

Serial prankster or not, you can imagine that this would be a jarring experience for anyone.

The model quickly took to Twitter to defend herself after the article was publish saying that she’s “human” and that no one has the “right to man-handle a complete stranger.”

What do you think of the situation? Was there a better way the model could have handled herself? Let us know by tweeting to @YahooStyleCA.