Photo: Instagram.com/bellahadid
Bella Hadid continues to be refreshingly honest about her battle with Lyme disease in an effort to raise awareness about it. Since stepping away from modeling to undergo treatment, the part-Palestinian model shared a major update on her health via Instagram on Sunday.
The former Vogue Arabia cover star marked 100 days of the intense medical procedure with an emotional statement looking back on her journey, and a series of photos documenting it. In multiple pictures—which Hadid says are the most positive of all—she is seen hooked to machines and infusion bags while at home and in hospital beds. The post also features a couple of official records of her Lyme disease from when she was 17 years old, which states symptoms like feeling “extremely exhausted” and “depressed” and having “memory problems.” In the caption, Hadid describes her experience as “almost 15 years of invisible suffering,” and thanks her mother Yolanda Hadid for “keeping all of my medical records, sticking by me, never leaving my side, protecting, supporting, but most of all, believing me through all of this.”
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The 26-year-old also opened up about her mental condition while struggling with Lyme disease. “Living in this state, worsening with time and work while trying to make myself, my family and the people who support me, proud, had taken a toll on me in ways I can’t really explain,” she wrote. “To be that sad and sick with the most blessings/privilege/opportunity/love around me was quite possibly the most confusing thing ever.” She also went on to assure everyone that she was fine and that she has no regrets about her life. “One thing I want to express to you all is that 1: I am okay and you do not have to worry, and 2:I wouldn’t change anything for the world,” she shared. “If I had to go through all of this again, to get here, to this exact moment I’m in right now, with all of you, finally healthy, I would do it all again. It made me who I am today.”
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Hadid ended her post by advising anyone struggling that things will get better, and also thanked her agents, nurses, and doctor. The model dedicated a follow-up post to her dog “Glizzy P. Beans aka Petunia aka Beans” with a gallery of images of them together “for never leaving my side, not for one second.”
The update has received an outpouring of love from those close to Hadid, including her sister Gigi, who wrote: “I love u I am so proud and happy 4 u !” Fellow models Elsa Hosk, Winnie Harlow, Doutzen Kroes, Coco Rocha also left comments of support and appreciation for Hadid under the post.
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