Busted for drunk driving, suffering from mental illness and Lyme disease – that's
just the tip of the iceberg for Bella Hadid's super model life.
When Bella Hadid was a teenager, she was diagnosed with Lyme disease,
a bacterial infection caused by deer ticks. The long list of symptoms includes fatigue,
brain fog, significant joint pain, and paralysis.
Bella's struggle with Lyme disease deeply impacts her work and personal life on a regular basis. In
2020, she posted the ailments affiliated with Lyme on Instagram Stories, sharing:
"Everyday I feel at least 10 of these attributes without fail."
Some of the symptoms she highlighted include anxiety, thyroid issues,
and inflammation. She said during her 2016 Global Lyme Alliance Gala acceptance speech:
"I know what it feels like to not want to get out of bed from bone pains and
exhaustion and days on end of not wanting to socialize or be around people because
the anxiety and brain fog just isn't worth it. After years of this, you begin to get
used to living with the sickness, instead of getting cured and moving on with your life."
It's hard to imagine Bella Hadid as anything other than an edgy,
high fashion brunette. Her dark hair and light eyes are a striking combo, and they
only add to her ethereal aura. Surprisingly though, she was born a natural blonde.
As she told Teen Vogue, the model and activist started dying her hair to distinguish herself
from Gigi Hadid, and has rarely gone back to her blonde roots since. Thanks to her daring switch,
the sisters can model for completely different markets and Bella was able to rise from her
sister's shadow, without competition. Bella told Allure about the switch:
"I just have a darker personality. And my sister being blonde and me being brunette,
it's a good separation."
Bella shared with Teen Vogue that her dark hair makes her feel like even more of a,
quote, "black sheep" in her family. Bella said of her older sibling:
"She's beautiful, smart, and funny, and I've always been the
one who kind of rebels. I just wanted to show people that we're different."
Bella Hadid's body has been a topic of conversation since she
first entered the spotlight. The model told People in 2016:
"My weight fluctuates and so does everybody's and I think that if people are gonna judge,
that's the worst you can possibly do because everybody is different."
She went on to say that she tries to be mindful of what she eats,
works out daily, and drinks plenty of water.
"You know what, when I work out, I love to work out. Like,
I train and I work out hard for two hours. I don't like to do the whole yoga thing."
In a 2022 Vogue cover story, she shared that she struggled with anorexia as a high schooler,
but she's since developed a healthier mindset regarding diet, exercise, and body image.
Of course, she also finds balance. As she told WSJ Magazine in 2022,
she's all about smoothies and making sure she works protein into her daily diet.
For years, Hadid's opened up about her love of boxing as a workout,
but that's not the only thing she's into when she hits the gym. As she said in WSJ Magazine:
"I love boxing. I love rowing. I like anything that seems like an activity. I love Pilates,
because I'm just swinging and jumping on things."
By now, we're sure you've heard of the fiery romance between Bella Hadid and
Pop/R&B singer The Weeknd. Who could forget Hadid's iconic strut down the
Victoria's Secret catwalk as her ex performed "Starboy"?
Hadid and The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Tesfay, dated on and off from 2015
to 2019. As Tesfaye told Rolling Stone, they connected after he asked Hadid to model for
the artwork of his album "Beauty Behind The Madness." When they met again at Coachella,
they clicked instantly and were soon getting photographed hand-in-hand.
Hadid would even go on to star in Tesfaye's "In The Night" music video,
and their relationship for good due to scheduling conflicts.
In 2021, Hadid was spotted with art director Marc Kalman. Kalman is known
for his contributions on a number of high-profile fashion projects.
The stylish couple have been photographed all over the world in cute, coordinating outfits.
Though not much is known about their relationship,
the couple's similar aesthetics have garnered them tons of attention online.
Before Bella Hadid was an international supermodel, she was a – relatively – normal
17-year-old girl. Bella, like all teenagers, made some mistakes in her younger years,
with her worst mistake actually landing her in some trouble with the law. As TMZ reported in
2014, Bella, who was not of legal drinking age at the time, was charged with a DUI.
In a blog post for Bravo's website,
mother Yolanda Hadid expressed her devastation regarding the arrest.
"I raised her as a single mom most of her life, so immediately I started to take it
personally, blaming myself and doubting my parenting skills. Where did I screw up?!"
"The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star shared that her own father was
killed in a car accident when she was little, and knowing that her daughter
could've hurt herself or someone else was all the more upsetting.
Yolanda didn't take it easy on her daughter, and added some additional punishments on
top of her mandated probation and community service. Yolanda said:
"I decided to take her phone away,
make her pay for her own lawyer bills from her savings, and we sold her car."
In 2022, Bella told InStyle that she's basically stopped drinking. She said:
"I loved alcohol and it got to the point where even I started to, you know,
cancel nights out that I felt like I wouldn't be able to control myself."
Bella grew up on a horse farm in Santa Barbara, California,
and spent most of her days in the stables. Bella, her mom, and her sister all rode horses,
but only Bella had hopes of competing in the Olympics like her father. Unfortunately, with her
Lyme disease diagnosis came symptoms that caused physical complications for the future model.
She opened up about her Olympic fate and horse riding at the 2016
Global Lyme Alliance Gala, telling the audience:
"And realized I didn't have the brain power to really ride horses anymore,
so that was the end of that."
As her health deteriorated and her symptoms worsened,
Bella was forced to put her riding career on the back burner.
Her mother, Yolanda Hadid, announced the sad news in a Bravo blog post, writing:
"This was the biggest heartbreak of her life and an extremely sensitive subject for her."
Though she still deals with aggressive Lyme disease symptoms, Bella still loves
horses – and clearly goats too – and she still saddles up recreationally from time to time.
Bella Hadid really seems to have it all: she's wealthy, successful,
and beautiful. But that doesn't mean she's impervious to mental health
struggles. Through thick and thin, she's shared it all with her fans.
In March 2022, Bella opened up to Vogue about her
mental health and being compared to sister Gigi Hadid. Bella said:
"I was the uglier sister. I was the brunette. I wasn't as cool as Gigi,
not as outgoing. That's really what people said about me. And unfortunately when you get told
things so many times, you do just believe it. I always felt like I had something to prove."
The model became an expert at putting on a brave face,
and would go through bouts of depression and anxiety.
Eventually, Bella stopped glossing over her mental state and shared photos
where she's crying and not wearing makeup. At one point, she wrote:
"Sometimes all you've gotta hear is that you're not alone. So from me to you,
you're not alone. I love you, I see you, and I hear you."
It's no secret that Bella Hadid grew up in a wealthy family. But despite their massive fortune,
her parents did what they could to keep their kids in touch with reality. She told Vogue:
"But my parents are immigrants who came here and worked for everything
they had. I always knew the value of a dollar."
While one could say she and her siblings had a serious leg up, thanks to their parents' status
as well as mom Yolanda Hadid's experience as a model, they weren't simply handed their careers.
Yolanda said she prides herself on knowing that both of her daughters
have hustled hard to get where they are today.
All that said, MoneyInc. reports that Bella first started making the big bucks — $8.5
million in a year, to be exact — in 2018, four years after her modeling debut. According to
Celebrity Net Worth, Bella has amassed an impressive $25 million since entering the
modeling industry, making her one of the highest-paid models on the planet. Wow!
"Money itself isn't lost or made, it's simply transferred from one perception to another.
Like magic."
In 2022, she was named the seventh-most paid model in the world,
with an estimated $19 million revenue each year. Her older sis Gigi Hadid
is right above her on the list, at an estimated $20 million annually.
Bella's sure figured out ways to spend her cash. In 2019, for example,
she bought a penthouse for $6.1 million and, according to the New York Post, she made a
$500,000 profit when she sold it a few years later.
In a 2017 interview with WWD,
Bella Hadid expressed interest in exploring another line of work.
"Eventually, I'll hopefully start dabbling in acting. But I want to be able to give
my full attention to one or the other. I think I want to be like a superhero."
Seems like the wait is over. Hadid's acting debut arrived with Season 3 of Hulu's "Ramy."
Created by Ramy Youssef, "Ramy" is a coming-of-age show about a first-gen Egyptian-American,
and how he navigates his faith, community and morals in the Western world.
Hadid didn't even have to audition for the part. She told GQ in August 2022 that she and
Youssef connected after he reached out to her about the show, and then promptly became pals.
While they did not give too much away about
Hadid's girlfriend character on "Ramy," Youssef teased:
"It's probably one of the weirdest scripts we've ever written."