Bella Hadid says she suffered 'excruciating' pain during 'depressive episodes'

Bella Hadid has recalled suffering "excruciating and debilitating" pain in recent years during what have been referred to as "depressive episodes."

The model, 25, previously opened up to fans about having experienced "breakdowns and burnouts" in a post with her 48 million followers on Instagram last year.

The post in November included selfies which showed Bella in emotional states, including her being seen with tears running down her face in a number of the photos.

And she's now spoken about how she would send photos to her mother - former the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Yolanda Hadid, 58 - during "depressive episodes."

Bella said she used to have painful 'depressive episodes' (Instagram)

Bella opened up about her experiences in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, which was published earlier today.

She told the outlet: "I would have really depressive episodes and my mom or my doctor would ask how I was and instead of [...] respond in text, I would just send them a photo."

Bella said that it was the "easiest thing" to do at the time as she was "never able to explain how [she] was feeling."

She further commented: "I would just be in excruciating and debilitating mental and physical pain, and I didn't know why. That was over the past three years."

The model has opened up about her struggles with her mental health in the past (Getty Images for Kering)

Bella (right) is the sister of Gigi Hadid (left) and the youngest daughter of Yolanda Hadid (centre) (Getty Images North America)

The younger sister of Gigi Hadid, 26, said that her post on Instagram in November was an attempt to make sure that anybody "feeling that way" too knew that it was okay.

The award-winning model said she has "good days," where she doesn't feel depressed and has less anxiety, but added that the next day she may feel "the complete opposite."

She said that the social media post last year however made her feel "less lonely" because it prompted lots of people to reach out to her with similar feelings and experiences.

She said that opening up to her followers made her feel 'less lonely' (Instagram)

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Bella has previously spoken about suffering from Lyme disease - which is described by the NHS as a bacterial infection that can be spread to humans by infected ticks.

She shared a post about the symptoms associated with the disease two years ago, particularly highlighting anxiety, brain fog, nausea, fatigue and numerous other signs of such.

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