It’s ‘really complicated’ for Bella Hadid to get dressed in the morning due to anxiety

Bella Hadid has spoken about her mental health before, as has her sister Gigi. They were everywhere and super-famous early on in their modeling days, and both sisters have learned how to take a step back from the fame machine for their own mental health. Bella took part in WSJ. Magazine’s “My Monday Morning” series and she ended up discussing how debilitating her anxiety can be on any given morning, because she knows the paparazzi will be waiting for her outside of her apartment building. Some highlights:

Her struggle with choosing an outfit for the day: 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.”

She’s learned to embrace her style: “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. 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?”

Her November Instagram post where she was 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. It was the easiest thing for me to do at the time because I was never able to explain how I was feeling. 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. [When I posted them] it was to make sure that anybody that was feeling that way knew it was OK to feel that way. 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.”

Her current mental state is better: “I do have good days. Today is a good day. 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. That’s why I get so overwhelmed.”

The reaction to her IG post: “[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.”

[From People]

With the younger people, the celebrities and models who came up on social media, I always feel like it was a devil’s bargain for them. On one side, they got the fame, the exposure, the money. On the other side, all of them seemed to struggle to deal with “the image” they created. And imagine what it’s like for the non-models, the regular women and girls whose brains are being warped by Instagram and sh-t. Of course, I’m not putting the blame entirely on social media. I think Bella’s mental health stuff is only partially about social media. I hope she has more good days than bad.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, WSJ. Magazine.

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15 Responses to “It’s ‘really complicated’ for Bella Hadid to get dressed in the morning due to anxiety”

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  1. Denise says:

    I have anxiety and I totally relate. Some seemingly simple tasks can become triggers that paralyse me for hours or days. Sometimes it’s very hard to get out of bed.

    I’m so happy she’s speaking about this publicly

    • Cee says:

      me too. today I woke up foggy and coming into work was work in itself. we just have to power through and learn the coping tools in order to do so.

  2. Luna17 says:

    Ya anxiety and mental health problems suck. I do have sympathy for her but this story also shows how having more resources and money to treat them is a lot different versus regular people. I couldn’t even find a therapist I could afford in the past few years (and huge shortage in my area) and gave up. How great would it be if everyone struggling had a doctor texting them and following up? That doesn’t usually happen with regular people. Also clothes are stressful I guess but so many people aren’t able to afford rent and food and trying to figure out how to provide for their families in these times in my areas so the clothes comment comes across as really entitled to me. Im not trying to discount her problems but rich people problems aren’t quite the same as non rich problems regarding mental health struggles.

    • Sof says:

      “so the clothes comment comes across as really entitled to me.”
      That’s true but remember that, in this case at least, clothes are part of her job. If the general public doesn’t like the way she dresses or looks then she is likely to get fewer gigs. That world is all about popularity.
      I mean, can you imagine hiring a stylist to help you pick everyday, regular clothes? And people talking as if that was normal!

      Edit to say: I’m sure that her being aware of her privilige doesn’t help her anxiety at all. “Not having a real reason for being depressed” is actually a big factor in people’s mental health issues.

    • FHMom says:

      I totally applaud her honesty. She’s doing a good thing by sharing this. However, like you said, it’s a nightmare finding a therapist, never mind the right therapist. Even with resources and health insurance. I’ve been through this with my daughter. Nobody ever takes the health insurance we pay for, so it still costs us a ton of money. Finding a psychiatrist to prescribe meds was even more difficult. My jaw dropped when she mentioned the part about her doctor texting her.

  3. HufflepuffLizLemon says:

    I completely sympathize with this. For years, getting dressed has been almost paralyzing for me-trying to figure out the right style/colors/flattering look due to extreme anxiety and body issues. At one point last fall I was regularly having panic attacks trying to go back to the office. My therapist finally, very gently said, what if you just didn’t try so hard? This year I’ve given up makeup (other than lip balm and mascara) and started wearing the same outfit every day (different clothes, but basically black sweater, jeans, boots or flats) and honestly? My AM stress plummeted. So. That’s a solution for non-famous people without paparazzo. 🙂

    • HufflepuffLizLemon says:

      Adding another note-
      Privilege is real and it makes getting the tools to handle mental health issues much easier. Having great medical care, financial privilege, etc makes the route to solutions smoother and faster. But even with privilege, the mind creates its own prison, and it can be hell to live in.

      • Heidi says:

        She has every possible resource and she still struggles. It’s not exactly encouraging for the rest of us without those opportunities.

  4. Trish says:

    Anxiety is crippling. When I was little I would think I was leaving my body, I didn’t understand what was happening, now I know it’s anxiety. It’s like that feeling of going down a tall rollercoaster, like your stomach drops. It’s awful and it’s hard to do anything when your body is doing things you can’t control. I hope Bella can find some way to find relief from it.

  5. Becks1 says:

    Anxiety is so hard to understand for people who don’t have it, and since different people experience it differently, that makes it even harder. My SIL has anxiety and OCD that is so bad at times she can’t leave her house (hers is germ-focused.) I have anxiety that manifests itself in one main way – thinking people don’t like me. so if I’m out and I see someone I know from my kids school and they don’t say hi to me, I don’t say hi to them and I spend two days thinking of how they hate me, and if my husband is with me he’ll say “why didn’t you say hi to Kelly?? No one is going to say hi to you if you don’t say hi to them!” but that’s not really helpful lol (the reality is that Kelly probably did not see me and was not ignoring me, but that’s not how I process it.)

    And it ends up with me being really socially awkward overall and still not quite able to process some basic social settings.

    all that to say – I can understand how for someone famous for being a model, getting dressed to walk outside to face the paps can be overwhelming. I have issues getting dressed some days and I’m not surrounded by paps lol.

    • bruh says:

      I can relate to the socially awkward. And funny thing is people usually say how outgoing and fun I am all the while I am feeling out of place and like a complete outsider. Large or even medium sized groups of people are exhausting and next day I usually feel completely wrecked.
      Sometimes I think I might be autistic. Always obsessing about conversations and mulling things over in my head for ever.
      Hypervigilance is my middle name. and feeling like my nervous system is fried.
      I also was diagnosed with Lyme 2019.
      It sucks that we don’t feel as sympathetic towards people with money because they can find help easier. It still is sh!tty whether you are a millionaire or an average joe.

  6. Oria says:

    It actually sounds like Bella should be doing something else than what’s she’s doing for a living. Maybe she would feel more free and happy if she wasn’t in the limelight at all.
    And social media is so unnatural and completely messes with our brain chemistry. It’s designed to.
    Our nervous systems are constantly being screamed and yelled at, and we get addicted to the feeling of both dopamine and also the constant stress our bodies undergo as we scroll on our screens. It’s really not healthy, even though we can keep in touch with each other.

    Anyway, I think Bella looks so natural, laid back and beautiful on that cover. Love the styling and simplicity.

  7. Cash says:

    I love her look in the photo with the brown dress and white boots! She looks radiant. It’s a shame she’s struggling with anxiety. So many are affected, no matter how successful or what your status is in life. Good for her for addressing it.