Bella Hadid is in love with her cowboy boyfriend, Adan Banuelos, according to a source, and she has her mother to thank for that.
A source tells ET, “Bella and Adan are in love and her family and friends have never seen her this happy.” The source went on to describe Adan as “a hard-working real cowboy, and a champion cutter.” It’s true. In 2017, Banuelos was inducted into the National Cutting Horse Association Riders Hall of Fame, and he comes from a long line of successful horsemen. He was one of the youngest ever to be inducted, and his father, Ascencion Banuelos, was the first Mexican-American ever inducted into the National Cutting Horse Association Hall of Fame, according to Harper’s Bazaar.
“Bella loves how supportive Adan is of her career and fits into her life,” the source added. “The two always have a great time together and find comfort in the simple things. Bella’s mom, Yolanda, set them up.”
The 27-year-old supermodel on Friday shared a carousel of photos and videos on Instagram, which show her birthday celebration in October. Banuelos also made a couple of appearances in that post, from sharing a smooch in a Boomerang to holding hands.
Hadid celebrated her birthday on Oct. 9, and just days later she was spotted out with Banuelos at the famed Fort Worth Stockyards in Fort Worth, Texas. Video obtained by TMZ showed the happy couple showing tons of PDA, from holding hands to making out.
That Hadid found love with a cowboy is fitting. She’s quite the equestrian herself, who once had aspirations of competing at the 2016 Olympics but was forced to bow out due to her battle with Lyme disease. She retired from equestrian riding that year, but made a triumphant return in March 2023 at an equestrian event in Florida.
Hadid, who went Instagram official with her cowboy last month and anointed him as her Valentine this week on her Instagram Story, got herself not just a true cowboy but one who is respected and admired in the horse riding industry. In 2020, Banuelos won the National Cutting Horse Association’s Futurity Open Championship.
And according to his Instagram, Banuelos became the first-ever American Performance Horseman cutting champion while riding the horse All Spice last March.
And because a lot of people who don’t watch Yellowstone are wondering, what is cutting?, the NCHA defines it as “the act of separating one cow from a herd of cattle. The sport of cutting involves a horse and a rider and a herd of cattle.”
The NCHA says the first advertised cutting contest was held at the 1898 Cowboy Reunion in Haskell, Texas, some three hours west of Banuelos’ hometown of Fort Worth.
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