Social media is not real: Bella Hadid opens up about struggling with mental health

American-Palestinian supermodel Bella Hadid has always been open about her mental health struggles. The 25-year-old, time and again, has shared how social media portrays a false bravado and how life, in reality, is entirely different. 

Recently, Hadid took to Instagram once again and shared intimate details with fans about her mental health. In the said post, the Victoria Secret model reminded anyone else struggling that they are far from alone. She opened up about her experience with mental illness (and the deceiving nature of social media) and shared some raw photos of her own low points on Instagram.

Hadid began her post by explaining that she felt inspired to post after hearing friend Willow Smith, daughter of Hollywood celebrity couple Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith, speak about the universal and deeply ingrained nature of people's struggles with insecurity, not feeling good enough, and anxiety.

“People forget that everyone is basically feeling the same way: lost, confused, not really sure why they’re here,” Smith had said in a video clip, which Hadid quoted in her caption. “That anxiety - everyone is feeling that and trying to cover it up in some way,” continued Smith, who has previously spoken up about her own mental health challenges. “We’re gonna come together in our flaws, in our insecurities, in our joy, in our happiness. And accept it all as beautiful and natural.”

Moved by Smith's words, Hadid felt compelled to open up herself. “It made me feel a little less alone and that’s why I’d like to post this,” Hadid wrote, alongside a series of photos of herself crying. “This is pretty much my every day, every night for a few years now. Social media is not real. For anyone struggling, please remember that. 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.” 

Hadid went on to discuss how managing mental health conditions can be a rocky, ongoing journey and remind anyone else who is struggling that there is always a way out. “Self-help and mental illness/chemical imbalance are 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. (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 took Hadid a “long time” to understand the ever-fluctuating nature of mental health and how resilient she is, at this point the model has had “enough breakdowns and burnouts” to learn that “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,” Hadid said. “Which is all that you can ask of yourself."

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