Bella Hadid has opened up about her mental health struggles, with the supermodel sharing photos of herself from the week before she “changed [her] whole life,” in which she was “smiling through the pain”.
Hadid, 25, who frequently uses her platform to speak candidly about mental health, reflected on the moments from late 2020, early 2021, in a series of photos shared to Instagram, in which she could be seen with orange and red hair.
“1.5 years ago the week before I changed my whole life,” the supermodel wrote in the caption. “She was smiling through the pain but giving absolute spiral-sitaaa.
“But she’s also giving GROWTH and I’m proud.”
The post, which includes photos of Hadid smiling, as well as some where she looks unhappy, has been met with an outpouring of supportive comments from her followers, friends and fans.
“I’m so proud for real. We’re all works in progress,” celebrity hairstylist Jen Atkin wrote, while someone else commented: “Keep growing beloved @bellahadid.”
One fan told Hadid: “Yes queen, growth looks so good on you,” while another person added: “So proud of how far you have come.”
This is not the first time Hadid has opened up about her mental health journey, as she previously shared photos of herself crying on Instagram in November 2021, where she revealed that she was suffering from anxiety, depression and burnout.
“Self-help and mental illness/chemical imbalance is not linear and it is almost like a flowing rollercoaster of obstacles… It has its ups and downs, and side to sides,” Hadid wrote. “But I want you to know, there is always light at the end of the tunnel , and the rollercoaster always comes to a complete stop at some point.”
In the post, Hadid also reminded her followers that social media is “not real,” before adding: “For anyone struggling, please remember that.”
Hadid also spoke candidly about her experiences with mental health, and why she eventually sought help at a treatment program in Tennessee in early 2021, during a recent interview with Vogue, in which she revealed that she oftentimes felt she didn’t have “the right to complain,” but that she frequently pushed herself too far and was experiencing severe burnout.
“My immediate trauma response is people-pleasing. It literally makes me sick to my stomach if I leave somewhere and someone is unhappy with me, so I always go above and beyond, but the issue with that is that I get home and I don’t have enough for myself,” she recalled. “I became manic. I bleached my hair. I looked like a troll doll. Then I dyed it - it looked like a sunrise. That should have been the first sign.”
The supermodel also spoke about the importance of therapy, which she described as the biggest gift she has given to herself, as it helped her realise why she was crying.
“For so long, I didn’t know what I was crying about. I always felt so lucky, and that would get me even more down on myself,” she continued. “There were people online saying, You live this amazing life. So then how can I complain? I always felt that I didn’t have the right to complain, which meant that I didn’t have the right to get help, which was my first problem.”
