Naomi Campbell says bias in fashion is race based.

The 50-year-old model admitted she ''never expected'' things to come easy to her and said she has always had to work ''extra hard'' to get ahead in the industry.

Speaking to The New York Times, she said: ''Of course, it is race based. But I never expected things to come to me easy.

''I knew I had to work extra hard, and when I think about it now, I'm grateful to have had a lot of strong women in my family showing me how to stay strong physically and mentally if you want to survive and strive. I've always been raised, by my mother, my nana, the wonderful strong women in my family, from this strong ancestry to understand that, whatever I was going to do, I had to do it 110 per cent.''

However, Naomi admitted that she often felt underappreciated in the fashion world and believed she was treated differently to her counterparts.

She explained: ''It's adaptation. Back in the day, I would say: 'Why am I doing this if I'm not getting treated the same as my counterparts? Why am I not earning the same money?' Luckily, I had wonderful people like Bethann [Hardison - one of the first high profile black models] that I would call, and she would explain to me why it would be beneficial to go forward and do it and we'll see the results in the long run.

''If I thought things were unjust, I had to say something. This is to do with me. I am talking about, my career. The point is to try to make the best of the situation you're dealing with. I don't look at it as surviving. I look at it as life.''