Photo of Coco Gauff
TikTok

Coco Gauff ended her social media hiatus to respond to critics of her natural hair in a Miu Miu ad campaign.

The 22-year-old tennis star deleted her social media accounts for a month. But she returned to respond to people who criticized her natural hair and makeup-free ad campaign for Miu Miu.

“I deleted TikTok and Twitter for a month, to come back on Twitter and see thousands of people talking about the way that I look like — and not in a positive way,” she wrote in an X.com post on Monday.

“There’s nothing really to address, but I just wanted to come on here and talk about it,” Coco said in a TikTok video.

Photo of Coco Gauff
Miu Miu

Coco explained that her “social media person” took photos of her on a tennis court in her parents’ backyard. Coco said she was told that her natural hair was fine for the shoot.

She noted that Miu Miu uses models with minimal makeup or no makeup at all in their campaigns.

The tennis star became emotional when she described feeling depressed for 2 days after reading the negative comments.

“Y’all did knock a diva down. I’m not gonna lie,” she said in a video. “Two days I was feeling rough. I am someone who struggled with my looks throughout my life, just being a young black girl in this world. But y’all did knock a diva down.”

She continued: “I was down. Y’all did knock a diva down a few notches. But diva got up and I feel better than ever.”

Coco shared uplifting words for women who struggle with their looks. “There’s people who talk about Beyonce’s looks, Rihanna’s looks, Olandria’s looks. Um, Hailee Steinfeld’s looks. Like, those are some of the most beautiful people in the world. And there’s still people who talk about their looks.”

The responses on X.com were supportive of Coco.

@sherrijohnsontv wrote: “As a Black Woman, I have always told my girls whose grades of hair are different from mine, They are NOT their hair. Her excellence is not defined by her look. But her look is authentically hers.”

@erikaxtc wrote: “I hope you see that there are a lot of people who support and love you on here, too.”

@JennyEnya “There are so many people who believe in you, genuinely love and support you! Don’t care about the others who are toxic and hateful towards you! I know it’s not easy but give them non of your energy!”