Bella Hadid Says She Is 'Finally Healthy' After 15-Year Struggle With Lyme Disease

The Gist:

• Bella has suffered from Lyme disease and other chronic issues for over a decade.
• She shared a post saying that she is now "finally healthy" after years of "invisible suffering."
• Bella's mother and brother were also diagnosed with Lyme disease — which is only transmitted via tick bite — in 2013.

In a recent post on Instagram, Bella Hadid shared some good news that also left some users confused. In her post, Bella said that she was "finally healthy" after 15 years of "invisible suffering," leading many to wonder what suffering Bella had been through, and how that suffering started.

As her post makes clear, Bella has been suffering from Lyme disease and other chronic issues for well over a decade, but added that "the little me that suffered would be so proud of grown me for not giving up on myself."

If her Instagram post is any indication, Bella is the healthiest she's been in some time.

"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. To be that sad and sick with the most blessings/privilege/opportunity/love around me was quite possibly the most confusing thing ever," she wrote.

"One thing I want to express to you all is that: 1, I am OK and you do not have to worry, and 2, I wouldn’t change anything for the world. 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," she continued.

Bella added a message to all those who might be struggling with health problems, promising that things will get better.

"I have so much gratitude for and perspective on life, this 100+ days of Lyme, chronic disease, co-infection treatment, almost 15 years of invisible suffering, was all worth it if I’m able to, God willing, have a lifetime of spreading love from a full cup, and being able to truly be myself, For the first time ever," she wrote.

She also added gratitude for both her family and her team.

Bella has not shared exactly how she contracted Lyme disease, but Bella, her mother Yolanda, and her brother Anwar were all diagnosed with the condition in 2013.

The illness is only contracted through contact with ticks, so it seems clear that all three of them must have had a run-in with them at some point, and it seems likely that they all contracted it at the same time.

Gigi, Bella's sister, has also spoken about the condition and the toll it's taken on the entire family.

“My mom couldn’t drive or get out of bed some days, so I took my brother to school with me, or I made lunch,” Gigi said during an interview in 2019. “But I also felt a lot of guilt for being the one person in the family who didn’t understand what they were going through. It’s hard when your whole family is in pain and you don’t know what to do.”