Campbell's laughs come from her diaphragm, deep and strong and, when she chortles, the rest of the room (two publicists, a makeup artist and a hairstylist sifting through a giant Ziploc bag filled with wigs) joins in. "It's important to laugh every day," she says. "I laugh at myself. I don't take myself that seriously. Trust me, I don't. I can't."
In spite of everything I've read about her, all the scandalous tabloid tales of temper tantrums and violent outbursts, I so want to believe that this centred woman is the real Naomi Campbell. Because if Naomi Campbell can find her inner zen, isn't there hope for the rest of us?
We all know Campbell's story, and the two phones perched on the table serve only as a reminder. Who could forget that decade where the supermodel was accused no less than 10 times of various acts of violence against assistants, employees, police officers - anyone within arm's reach?
In 2000 she pleaded guilty to assaulting her personal assistant with a mobile phone and in 2007 to assaulting her former housekeeper with a BlackBerry. During her court-mandated community service she maintained a diary for W magazine, for which she was snapped turning up to sweep the streets not in an orange jumpsuit but a silver-sequinned Dolce & Gabbana gown.
The following year she assaulted a pair of police officers at Heathrow, spitting at them during a dispute over lost luggage. Campbell was subsequently banned for five years by British Airways. She recently reached an undisclosed settlement over a claim from the paparazzo Gaetano Di Giovanni, who had alleged that in 2009 she hit him with her handbag and left his face scratched and bruised after he took a photo of Campbell with her then-boyfriend, Russian billionaire Vladimir Doronin. Campbell has consistently denied the allegation. (British jeweller Laurence Graff recently bought a Hermes Birkin bag of Campbell's at a charity auction for £110,000; the press speculated whether it could be the same one.)
Naomi Campbell with Claudia Schiffer and Pierce Brosnan, presenting the Best Costume Award at the 68th Annual Academy Awards the same year; and At Milan Fashion Week with the late designer Gianni Versace and Schiffer. Photos / AP
She and Doronin split last year after five years together and he was spotted soon after squiring Campbell's protege from her reality TV model competition show The Face, the Chinese model Luo Zilin.
None of this drama fazes Campbell. There's no trace of her fiery temper today.
Granted, she's got authority, rejecting three wigs before finally settling on a tousled one with a centre parting, but she's polite and almost excessive with her pleases and thank yous. "My mindset is a little bit wiser because of the adding on of the years," she says by way of explanation, the only time she references her age - 44 - in any way.
I start carefully, observing that she seems happy. She pauses. "I wasn't always happy. I'm happy now. What has made me so happy is just accepting life on life's terms, trying not to control everything, going with the flow, doing what I want to do. That's what's important."
Is she having more fun in her 40s? This brings out a naughty smile. "I am."
Campbell has been hitting the town in London and New York: visiting Chiltern Firehouse for photographer Mario Testino's OTT Gatsby-themed 60th dressed as a flamenco dancer in a daring silver gown with a neckline down to her belly button and flowers in her hair; dining out with Rihanna; she was delightfully silly in a recent charity skit for a celebrity Gogglebox with her long-time pal Kate Moss and rock star Noel Gallagher, eating chips but not looking like she watches much primetime television.
"Listen," she says conspiratorially. "I've softened a lot over the years. The people who know me know what I'm about. You can't please everyone. You can't judge a book by its cover. You know my story. I don't live in denial about it and that's it."
A dedicated fan of New York's Magnolia Bakery cupcakes ("I can only buy a small one, because if I buy the big one, I'll eat the whole thing in one go") and banana pudding, Campbell recently quit sugar after an intense 10-day cleanse. 'I feel amazing,' she says - and, even with my bullshit-o-meter turned up high, I believe her. She's about to embark on a huge project to raise awareness about the spread of Ebola (more of which to follow).
To my surprise, I begin to ask Campbell for advice about how to be more centred.
Naomi Campbell at the height of her fame, at a Victoria's Secret collection in 1996. Campbell became the first black model to feature on the cover of Time Magazine in 1991. Photos / AP
"First and foremost, you have to be happy and have a positive mind," she says. 'I do yoga and Pilates and sometimes bootcamp. But you can do all of that and still not be happy. The thought process of doing it is harder than actually just physically doing it. The mind is so powerful. I've learned that," she says. She really does seem at peace, I say, and she chortles. "I am. If I wasn't, you would know."
Campbell was the first black model to appear on the cover of Time magazine, French Vogue and Russian Vogue. She's walked in the shows of every top designer from Chanel to Versace. Model scout Beth Boldt discovered Campbell while she was shopping in Covent Garden aged just 15. She soon had her first assignment - a photo shoot in Alabama for British Elle - and has since graced the covers of more than 500 magazines. She is worth an estimated £30 million ($60 million).
When Campbell and her comrades were on the rise - Kate, Christy, Cindy ... all those girls we knew by just one name - models commanded an air of mystery. But those days are long gone, with young models such as Cara Delevingne and Kendall Jenner (Kim Kardashian's half-sister, recently signed as the face of Estee Lauder, modelling's version of winning Lotto) documenting the minutiae of their lives on social media. In its September issue, American Vogue dubbed them the "Instagirls".
Moving into her third decade in the business, Campbell sees herself as something of an adviser to the new generation: "I talk to Cara all the time. She calls me," she says. "She's very level-headed, actually. Very smart."
What's Campbell's stance on social media? "I Instagram but I don't give my life away. I believe you have to let people see certain things," she says, adding that she prefers posting quotes, old pictures and a few select moments, "but I don't show personal things. I give a little. It's a fine line."
She'll happily take a selfie now and then - "I like taking them ... fully dressed" - but claims she doesn't know how to take one from the most flattering angle. "All these years working with photographers and I actually have no idea how to take a picture!"
This month is crazy for Campbell as she flies between London, New York and Chicago, where she's filming an episode of Lee Daniels' (the director behind Precious and The Butler) hip-hop TV drama Empire, to be broadcast early next year. Terrence Howard stars in the family saga about Lucious Lyon, a street thug-turned-music mogul, and Campbell plays Camilla, the cougar-style mistress of Lyon's son Hakeem. "I'm studying and I have a coach I love. It's been so therapeutic," she says of her acting. "You have to dig down deep into your own stuff and use your own pain and your life, everything that you've been through."
Campbell is close to her mother, Valerie, a Jamaican-born dancer who moved to South London aged 7, but in accordance with her mother's wishes has never met her father, who left Valerie soon after she became pregnant. Earlier this year they featured together in a Bruce Weber shoot for Vogue set in Brixton Market.
"My mum sacrificed a lot for me ... I wasn't spoiled, but I never went without," she's said of their relationship.
She may end up working through much of the holiday season, but is hoping to make it back to Britain for some fun and relaxation.
She'll do Christmas at home in London and then head somewhere warm and relaxing. She's coy about where exactly. "You know what?" she says, stretching out her coltish legs. "I'm just happy with some time off. I want to chill and sleep late and watch TV and vege out and be around people I care about. It's a time to relax and rejuvenate and do kid things."
Despite rumours that she was dating the actor Michael Fassbender this year, she says she hasn't dated anyone seriously since Doronin. "You don't have to do anything. You don't have to live up to anyone's expectations. You need to try not to be alone. Make your own joy. Not just for Christmas." She flicks her hand when I mention New Year's resolutions. "Every day is a resolution. I am living and breathing." Then, after a beat: "How about we find a cure for Ebola?"
She has been gathering up her hand-me-downs for a pop-up shop in London, where she will sell clothes from her own and her friends' (including Kate Moss') closets, as well as pieces by well-known designers. Proceeds will go towards her Fashion For Relief campaign to help stop the spread of Ebola. "Finding a cure for Ebola is in everyone's personal interest right now. There is no peace of mind until we know that something can be done."
And what little bits of Campbell will we find in the shop? "I've given so many of my things. Everything I've given is something that I like, but I find it therapeutic to clean out the closet."
Campbell has a long history with Africa, but it hasn't always been a rosy one. She began doing charity work with Nelson Mandela in 1993; in 1997 he named her his "honorary granddaughter".
But it was also in South Africa that she became embroiled in yet another controversy, after unwittingly receiving a gift of what turned out to be suspected blood diamonds from the former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor, while visiting for a charity event hosted by Mandela in 1997. She was forced to testify about the incident in front of Taylor's war crimes tribunal in 2010.
Still, she lights up when we talk about Kenya. "I feel really at peace there," she says. "You're completely disconnected from everything. You have to climb a mountain to make a phone call. When I'm there I don't look at the time."
So what's next? More acting? Another reality show? A husband? Kids? "I just want to have fun with what I'm doing," she says matter-of-factly. "I'm not going to give up on my day job and my day job hasn't given up on me. We'll see. As I said, you let it go."
- Independent
