‘Social media is not real’: Bella Hadid gets real about her mental health struggles
Sharing a series of Instagram snaps of herself in tears, Bella Hadid opened up about crying “every day, every night for a few years now.”
The supermodel picked up from singer Willow Smith’s interview, where she said: “That feeling of not thinking that you’re good enough or being insecure about your art is natural, but at the same time, I feel like it’s taught.”
“All humans are different, every single human has something so special and unique to offer. And people forget that everyone is basically feeling the same way: lost, confused, not really sure why they’re here. That anxiety, like, everyone is feeling that and trying to cover it up in some way,” Smith added.
The supermodel then opened up about her mental health struggles to her followers. “Social media is not real,” the 25-year-old declared, stressing that it’s something to remember for those who are struggling. For her, it’s important to know that one is not alone in their journey. “So from me to you, you’re not alone. I love you, I see you, and I hear you.”
“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,” she said. Hadid added, however, that “there is always light at the end of the tunnel, and the rollercoaster always comes to a complete stop at some point. (There is always room for it to start up again, but for me it’s always been nice to know that even if it’s a few days, weeks, or months, it does get better, to some extent, even for a moment.)”
While it admittedly took her a while to keep such an uplifting message in mind, she shared that it’s her breakdowns and burnouts that have led to her important realization about life: “If you work hard enough on yourself, spending time alone to understand your traumas, triggers, joys, and routine, you will always be able to understand or learn more about your own pain and how to handle it. Which is all that you can ask of yourself.”
“Not sure why but it feels harder and harder to not share my truth on here. Thank you for seeing me and thank you for listening. I love you,” she said.
This isn’t the first time that Hadid opened up about her mental health struggles. Aside from taking a social media hiatus early this year, she also got honest about suffering “from extreme depression and anxiety for most of my teenage and adult life” in a September post.
