Gigi Hadid and Joe Jonas are ''taking it step by step''.

The 20-year-old model has revealed she is taking things slowly with her Jonas Brothers beau, 26, because they don't want to ruin their long-standing friendship.

She explained: ''We have been friends for a very, very long time - since I was 13 years old - so we are just taking it step by step.''

The blonde beauty insisted she won't let speculation about their relationship bother her though as she believes they would ''kill'' her if she did.

Asked if she's bothered by rumours, she said: ''I think it's important not to pay attention to it that much. If you take it all seriously, it will kill you. My stepdad always told me that if you don't believe the good, you won't believe the bad, which has a lot to do with reading it in general.''

Despite her relationship and her career as a model, Gigi said she feels no pressure to look a certain way though as she has always promised herself she wouldn't change.

She added to HELLO! magazine: ''I have had an easy time with the whole body image thing. On day one as a model I was like, 'This is what I want to do with my career - I am not going to lose a certain amount of weight and I am not going to be extremely skinny. I just don't want to do that.'''