Bella Hadid Details ‘Excruciating and Debilitating’ Mental Health Battle

Sharing her struggle. Bella Hadid explained why she decided to post photos of herself crying last year — and opened up about how she’s feeling now.

“I would have really depressive episodes and my mom or my doctor would ask how I was and instead of having to respond in text, I would just send them a photo,” the supermodel, 25, told WSJ. Magazine in an interview published on Monday, January 17. “It was the easiest thing for me to do at the time because I was never able to explain how I was feeling.”

The Washington, D.C. native was referring to a series of photos she shared via Instagram in November 2021 that showed her breaking down in tears. “This is pretty much my everyday [sic], every night for a few years now,” she wrote at the time. “Social media is not real. For anyone struggling, please remember that.”

The former equestrian said she was inspired to share her battle with mental health after seeing Willow Smith speak about it in the 2021 documentary A Man Named Scott. “All humans are different, every single human has something so special and unique to offer,” the singer, 21, said in the clip that Hadid shared via Instagram last year. “And people forget that everyone is basically feeling the same way: lost, confused, not really sure why they’re here. That anxiety, everyone is feeling that — and trying to cover it up in some way.”

While discussing her ups and downs in Monday’s interview, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum said that her most serious issues have manifested “over the past three years,” but she didn’t know what was happening to her at first. “I would just be in excruciating and debilitating mental and physical pain,” she explained.

Now, she has “good days,” but she doesn’t see her struggles as being fully behind her. “My brain fog is feeling better, I don’t feel depressed,” she told WSJ. “I don’t have as much anxiety as I usually do. But tomorrow I could wake up and [be] the complete opposite.”

Bella’s older sister, Gigi Hadid, has also been candid about her battle with anxiety, having previously taken breaks from social media to give herself time to recover. Last year, the model, 26, revealed that she kept a “bad journal” to record the “anxieties” she experienced during her pregnancy. She welcomed daughter Khai, now 15 months, with ex Zayn Malik in September 2020.

“I didn’t want to feel guilty about feeling those things or writing those things down,” Gigi told Harper’s Bazaar in July 2021. “Maybe one day I’ll give [Khai] the bad journal just to be real about it.”

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