Bella Hadid Says She’s “Finally Healthy” After “Almost 15 Years of Invisible Suffering”

After spending well over half of her life in what she described as “invisible suffering,” 26-year-old model Bella Hadid is “finally healthy,” she said in an Instagram post Sunday.

In a lengthy caption, she chronicled her health struggles, including (sic throughout) “100+ days of Lyme, chronic disease , co infection treatment, almost 15 years of invisible suffering.” She said that it “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.”

Her accompanying photo carousel begins with a shot of medical notes from a 2013 exam of then-17-year-old-Hadid. It describes her being “ill for more than 1 ½ years now,” feeling “extremely exhausted and depressed” and unable to attend school. A paragraph-long summary contains a laundry list of physical, mood, and neurological symptoms, memory issues, fatigue, and pain among them. She also shared photos of herself receiving various treatments, poked and prodded and hooked up to any number of IVs, calling them “the most positive pictures I could because as painful as this experience was, the outcome was the most enlightening experience of my life filled with new friends, new visions and a new brain.”

She thanked her mother, Yolanda Hadid, as well as her medical team and the companies she’s worked for, as well as other associates and supporters, and added that “I’ll be back when I’m ready.”

Bella has been largely absent from the spotlight as she handles her variety of medical complications, among them the chronic autoimmune disorder Lyme disease, a diagnosis she shares with mom Yolanda and sibling Anwar Hadid. “To be that sad and sick with the most blessings/privilege/opportunity/love around me was quite possibly the most confusing thing ever,” Bella wrote in the caption.

Earlier this month, sister Gigi Hadid said in her Instagram stories that Bella had recently finished a “long and intense” treatment for Lyme, and that she looked forward to her coming back to modeling “whenever she feels ready.”

All in all, Bella’s update is an acknowledgment of her struggle, and a celebration of the progress she’s made over the last decade and a half. “the little me that suffered would be so proud of grown me for not giving up on myself🫶” she wrote.