Bella Hadid has opened up about the challenges she’s facing as she deals with a chronic illness flare-up.
In a series of Instagram Stories shared Thursday and Friday, the 29-year-old detailed her current condition, likely related to her Lyme disease diagnosis. She was first diagnosed with the condition, along with her mother, Yolanda, and her brother, Anwar, in 2012. Other celebrities who suffer from the illness include Miranda Hart, Shania Twain and Justin Bieber.
Hadid said it was “intimidating” to explain her symptoms, which include brain fog, fatigue, pain, anxiety, infections, and more.
“You demand answers that no one can find. You fight. You finally have a few good days. You think you’ve found the right protocol, the right routine, the right treatment… and then a flare up comes back and all of a sudden nothing feels certain again,” the American model, who is of Dutch and Palestinian descent, wrote.
“Haven’t been able to shake off this flare up,” Hadid wrote in another Story, accompanied by a teary-eyed selfie. “Slept 11 hours. Again … Nap everyday. Took every protocol from any and every doctor I’ve seen. Still nothing helping.
“Now I’ve diagnosed myself with 12 other things so that’s good,” she joked.
Hadid also shared that she was “out of breath walking to the kitchen.”
“I don’t think there’s a singular brain cell in there working and my last two are beefing with each other,” she continued. “I took a shower without fainting tho… so again, if you know you know….that felt like a really big accomplishment for me today.”
Hadid followed up Friday with an apology to those who she may have worried with her vulnerable posts.
“I know it sounds jarring, but in full truth it’s my reality so it’s something I’m able to cope with to a capacity now,” she continued. “I’m sorry if I startled anyone. This truly is an every day ebb and flo, for me for the past 15 years. I just had an overwhelming amount of emotion over not being able to do the things my mind is capable of setting, but my body is not capable of doing.
“Every day is a new day and tomorrow I’m hoping for, God willing, a better one,” Hadid wrote before thanking her friends and followers for their love and support.
Hadid has been vocal about her struggles with the illness. In a May 2025 interview with Vogue, she said that she has many days where she feels down on herself “for being so sensitive,” adding: “I think nobody really understands chronic illness.”
Expanding on her day-to-day struggles, Hadid continued: “It’s hard to take a shower most days, which I promise guys, if you’re reading this, I shower every day. But sometimes, if I have one day off, if I can get in the shower and make myself breakfast, I see that as an accomplishment.”
Lyme disease is an infection caused by a group of bacteria transmitted through an infected tick. It can lead to a range of symptoms, including severe joint, muscle pain and cognitive issues such as brain fog, memory lapses and changes in mood or sleep.