Bella Hadid covers the latest issue of British Vogue, to promote various projects and side-gigs. She’s not just a model, she’s a perfumer and actress and a cowboy’s girlfriend. She moved to Texas a few years ago and she’s still using Texas as her base and the place where she can be herself. Her boyfriend is Adan Banuelos, and apparently he had no idea who Bella was when they first met. She sounds deeply in love. She also sounds especially scattered in this Vogue interview, like she barely has any time off and like she’s someone who really needs her decompression time. Some highlights:
She’s been exhausted: “I went to Rome and then I went to YSL and then I went to Venice to shoot [The Beauty], then I went back home. I showed my horses, which is still a 4am start. It’s funny because even my agent, Joseph, thinks I have time off. Little does he know the scheduling is still full on. And my boyfriend is a horse trainer, so his schedule is out of control. He is riding 60 horses a day.”
She has Lyme disease, depression, anxiety, ADHD, endometriosis, PMDD, PCOS and other ailments: “There are days that I felt down on myself for being so sensitive. For apologising so much, or saying thank you so much, or whatever the things are that sometimes people make fun of me for where I’m overcompensating. I think nobody really understands chronic illness. Everything feels… It’s hard to take a shower most days, which I promise guys, if you’re reading this, I shower every day. But sometimes, if I have one day off, if I can get in the shower and make myself breakfast, I see that as an accomplishment. Our interview today was at 3pm. I was in excruciating pain until 11am and had a very tough morning. Can you make this all sound a little bit prettier and less dramatic?”
Why she moved to Texas: “My mom was already building a house with my stepdad in Texas. They were like: ‘OK, we’re not going to leave you by yourself.’ At the time I was a 26-year-old living with her mom on our farm that I also pay for, feeling a full tiny baby child. They were basically like: ‘Just come. You can ride, sleep, tap out. You just can’t be alone.’ So I go. I’m with my stepdad. We move cows, we’re on trail rides, and I’m starting to feel a little better, but just still dealing with my own stuff. Then, the next day, I meet my boyfriend. I saw him walk in and it was like a gust of fresh air,” she says. The pair had ended up at a horse show in the local town. “So he basically came in, walked into the exhibit hall, which is where we do all of the show stuff. I was getting a cowboy hat fitted. I just saw him and I was like that’s the…I always wanted the cowboy. And he’s pretty gorgeous, let me tell you something.”
More on her boyfriend: Adan Banuelos, unaware of her fame, would later tell her: “I never knew who you were until I saw your face for the first time.” “For me, that was such a breath of fresh air,” says Hadid. She’s so proud of him. “He’s the youngest Mexican cowboy to ever be inducted into the Hall of Fame.” But it’s the everyday stuff she really adores. “He works for his family, he works for his customers and he works to hopefully build a home and a family one day.”
She can’t wait to start a family: “Family is on my mind. I can’t wait to be a mom. I think that I’m somebody for a lot of people, but in the real intimate way of being the person that somebody can count on consistently, that will change my life for me. And I cannot wait. I never grew up being like, ‘Oh, I have this vision of marriage.’ I have this vision of being a mother. But it’s got to a point where I’m like: ‘You know what? That’s something that’s for me.’ I think that would make me truly happy.”
Modeling & working while on her period: “I didn’t get that whole fluid thing going through. I was like 17, 18 years old not knowing or loving myself a hundred per cent yet. I had just moved out of my parents’ house and gone straight into a world where you have to stare in the mirror every single day. And we get our periods. You’re shooting Victoria’s Secret on your period, with endo. That should be illegal. I’m going to talk to the White House about it, because we should literally ban women working on the week of their period. And the week before, to be honest.”
Her relationship with the woman in the mirror: “I hate the bitch,” she whispers softly. You hate that bitch? “Well…There was this picture of me a couple years ago. I had just got my eyebrows bleached and I was wearing a white tank top and these little blue, I think Juicy, sweats and, well, it was just a bad picture. But little do people know I had just gotten treatment and I was pale in the face, no make-up on, not thinking there were any paps, still smiling and still happy. But the fact that people can comment on something like that: ‘Oh, she is on drugs, she’s getting this done, she’s on whatever…’ I’m like: ‘Can’t you look at that girl and just think, “Wow, she actually looks sick?”’ Because I look at that picture now and I feel so sorry for myself.”
The thing about wanting to go to the White House and advocate for women not working while they’re menstruating is WILD!! I know there’s this whole trad-wife-adjacent “I’m just a girl” movement, which is dangerous enough in a period of time when women’s hard-earned rights are all being stripped away. But to actually say that you would advocate for women not having to work on their periods?? That’s playing into every stereotype about why women can’t be leaders, managers, presidents, everything. As for the rest of it… yeah, society just doesn’t know what to do or say about people in chronic pain, especially when the pain comes from “invisible” injuries or illnesses. Poor Bella.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, cover courtesy of British Vogue.
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- The red carpet for the opening ceremony and “Partir Un Jour” (Leave One Day) screening at the 78th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 13, 2025 in Cannes, France. Festival de Cannes 2025 – tapis d’ouverture – Bella Hadid,Image: 998714079, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Lionel Guericolas/Avalon
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- The red carpet for the opening ceremony and “Partir Un Jour” (Leave One Day) screening at the 78th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 13, 2025 in Cannes, France. Festival de Cannes 2025 – tapis d’ouverture – Bella Hadid,Image: 998715435, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Lionel Guericolas/Avalon
I mean…she’s saying the no work on periods thing as a joke i imagine, but also as someone who suffers from PCOS and PMDD, so she has it worse than a lot of people. I get it, honestly.
This was my thought too. I can’t imagine living with what she does, and that’s with having a lifelong chronic health condition. I went to university with someone who just used to sit in bed and cry constantly from the pain of her periods, no painkillers ever helped and she never made it to lectures or classes on those days. That’s just an example but periods are completely different for everyone and the lack of research or funding in this huge area of women’s health is why there is such a big range of experiences and lack of understanding across the board. Raising awareness is where we’re at right now, so out-of-the-box suggestions like that, even if they are obviously slightly tongue in cheek are still furthering the conversations, if people have the interest to wonder about the reasons behind them.
I work in the horse industry, including cutting–the sport she does now, and what Adan and his family do. I finally saw her at a show a few months ago. If you didn’t know who she was, you wouldn’t know she’s a famous model. She blended right in. People around her kind of acted weird (like loud talking to try to get her attention–kind of a weird energy) but she sat with Adan’s family and cheered him on while he was riding, went down to the arena for awards the next night. I about wanted to die of mortification though. After the competition that evening, I had to get into the arena to interview a winner (I’m a horse journalist, lol) and I had to step over the rail onto the steps down into the arena, carrying my heavy camera bag. Think swing your leg over the fence movement, to get into the arena. She was sitting RIGHT beside the area where the stairs are, so I was just praying my bag wouldn’t swing and make me lose my balance and make me fall in her lap!! I had to go back up that way too. Just was hoping I didn’t embarrass myself!
I hadn’t heard how they met before. But I know the horse show arena she’s talking about (It’s the only one they do cutting events at in Fort Worth) and I know the exhibit hall…. I know the cowboy hat vendors.
I feel like this is my closest brush with celebrity so far, LOL. I’m a journalist, but I mostly interview horse trainers and owners. The very occasional celebrity. Maybe I’ll interview her next time she wins something!
There must be different protocols for treating everything she has. I have endo, and after my laparoscopy, I had to take the pill to stop my period. I’ve been on it for 11 years. There are pros and cons but I definitely do not miss having my period. I don’t know what I’ll be like when they finally take it away, probably a mess, emotionally. I used to think Elizabeth Taylor’s mother was a genius for having it written into her contract that she couldn’t work on the first 2 days of her period, but then we’re talking about Elizabeth Taylor. The rest of us have to go to work. Bella is already worth millions of dollars and comes from wealth, I hope she has smart financial advisors so she won’t have to work as much when she gets older.
In 2023 spent 3 days in the hospital for hemoglobin levels so low that the doctor told me that people with levels this low are usually not standing without assistance. I had iron infusions and blood transfusions to get my levels up to normal. I also have ADHD and anxiety and it wasn’t until this year—2025 that I stopped and realized that this is a chronic illness.
Being a woman is not easy and add to that a chronic illness and you are out here fight for your life.
I knew a girl who would collapse to the ground during her period days at random times. One day she had to call someone for help because the pain hit her while she was outside and she just sat on the ground and couldn’t stand up. When women advocate for time off from work for this, I definitely understand. Thank God, mine passes with zero pain, just some bloating. There should be some regulation for people like that. I don’t know if it would play like a disability, but it is really hard for some women.
I agree, except for endometriosis. I have severe endometriosis and use my PTO mostly for surgeries and for days when the pain is so severe I can’t work and take pain pills. It also made me infertile.
On the one hand, I’m glad she’s speaking up about these issues and maybe changing the narrative that chronic pain, depression, etc etc are not things that “young and beautiful” women can suffer from. Maybe it will help other young women feel more confident in seeking treatment and advocating for themselves.
But she also has massive amounts of money and I don’t understand why she continues to push herself so hard if she’s suffering so intensely. Most people don’t have a choice but to keep working. She does.
Also the part about “becoming a mom will make me truly happy” is a bit…yikes. It is never healthy when someone’s pinning all their hopes on a hypothetical future child.
I have lower back issues that cause chronic daily pain (no disc left between L4/L5) and also have bad period cramps, so when they both hit together the pain is unreal. I work a full time desk job and last week the pain was so bad I was nauseas, light headed, I was moaning in pain, and during my break I had to sit at my desk curled up against myself until the worst of the waves passed. That was with me taking my prescribed pain medication, which maybe dulled it 10%.
I look at my male coworkers and think “you have no f’ing idea the strength I have to even be here still getting stuff done (and with a pleasant attitude, because I can’t come off as ‘b*tchy and PMS’ing’ to a man lest I offend them) while it feels like someone is pounding me on the back with a red hot sledgehammer.” Women deal with these kinds of things every day, all over the world, and we still do what we need to do – and we’re the weaker s*x?
I have endometriosis and I would honestly be the first person to sign up if they were allowing one day in the month just to rest. Even working from home would be fine. In France some city halls allow their employees to have one free day each month for their periods and I genuinely thought that it sounded like a good idea.
I don’t think you realize how dreadful it is for some people to having to go through that every month. Like, you think it’s a cycle and that there will be at least some days when you feel fine but it’s not true and personally I feel like cr*p most days of the month.
I get how this could seem as backward for women’s rights but maybe we could listen to people and let them chose what they want to do.