Bella Hadid opens up about her mental health struggles: `Had depressive episodes`

New Delhi: Supermodel Bella Hadid recently opened up about her mental health struggles and described them as "excruciating and debilitating".

The 25-year-old model spoke to WSJ. Magazine for the publication's 'My Monday Morning' series, where she candidly talked about her mental health issues, reported People magazine.

When asked by the publication what her secret is to putting together her outfit in the morning, Hadid explained that she hasn't had a stylist "in a long time, maybe two years now," and she was "in such a weird place mentally that it was really complicated for me to get out of the house and put an outfit together, especially with the anxiety of [paparazzi] being outside and all that."

But, after learning to deal with her anxiety and other mental health struggles, Hadid said she learned to embrace her fashion and dress in a way that makes her happy.

"In the last year, it was really important for me to learn that even if people talk about my style or if they like it or if they don't, it doesn't matter, because it's my style," she noted.

She added, "When I leave the house in the morning, what I think about is: Does this make me happy? Do I feel good in this and do I feel comfortable?"

In her interview with WSJ. Magazine, Hadid continued to chat about her own mental health, as well as what was her thought process behind an Instagram post she shared in November 2021, where she posted a series of selfies of herself crying.

"I would have really depressive episodes and my mom or my doctor would ask how I was and instead of having to respond in text, I would just send them a photo," she said.

"It was the easiest thing for me to do at the time because I was never able to explain how I was feeling," the 25-year-old model added.

"I would just be in excruciating and debilitating mental and physical pain, and I didn't know why. That was over the past three years," she continued. "[When I posted them] it was to make sure that anybody that was feeling that way knew it was OK to feel that way."

Hadid added, "Even though on Instagram things look so beautiful, at the end of the day, we are all cut from the same cloth. I felt like it was just good for me to be able to speak my truth and at some point I wasn't able to post nice pretty pictures anymore. I was over it."

Hadid was also asked about her current mental state, which she said is much better now. She did explain, however, that she understands she has to deal with her struggles on a day-by-day basis.

"I do have good days. Today is a good day," she told WSJ. Magazine. "My brain fog is feeling better, I don't feel depressed. I don't have as much anxiety as I usually do."

"But tomorrow I could wake up and [be] the complete opposite," she added. "That's why I get so overwhelmed."

Continuing to talk about her candid Instagram post, Hadid explained that it "made me less lonely because I had a lot of people that have reached out saying, 'I feel that way too.'"

"Walking outside, being able to remember there are so many people going through things and have similar patterns to me, it makes me feel better. I don't know if that's not what people want on Instagram, and that's fine. I don't have to be on Instagram forever. I feel like real is the new real, and that's what's important to me," she added.