Bella Hadid gives health update amid ‘painful’ battle with Lyme disease

Bella Hadid has shared a raw update to her millions of fans after stepping back from modelling amid her difficult health battle.

Bella Hadid has shared a heartbreaking update amid her health battle. Picture: Instagram

Bella Hadid gave fans a health update amid her “painful” battle with Lyme disease before thanking those who have supported her through the years.

“The little me that suffered would be so proud of grown me for not giving up on myself,” she began her lengthy Instagram post on Sunday, which featured several photos getting treatment, reports Page Six.

In her post, she first thanked her mum, Yolanda Hadid, “for keeping all of my medical records, sticking by me, never leaving my side, protecting, supporting, but most of all, believing me through all of this”.

Yolanda herself has also opened up about her own battle with Lyme disease multiple times. Yolanda was diagnosed while filming Real Housewives of Beverly Hills in 2012.

Hadid gave a close look at her battle with Lyme disease. Picture: Instagram

The model during Paris Fashion Week last year. Picture: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

Bella continued to explain in her post that, since contracting Lyme, she has only gotten worse with time and the symptoms have taken a toll “in ways” she 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 before confirming that she is “okay and you do not have to worry”.

She thanked those who have supported her through the years. Picture: Instagram

She noted that she was doing OK despite the daily treatments. Picture: Instagram

Despite the exhausting illness and the painful treatments, the model noted that she “wouldn’t change anything for the world” and would “go through all of this again” because it has ultimately made her who she is to this day.

In fact, she said that “almost 15 years of invisible suffering” have been worth it because she has had a chance to spread love “from a full cup” and “truly” be herself “for the first time ever.”

“I tried to pick 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 added before thanking those around her who have helped her in the journey.

“I’ll be back when I’m ready, I miss you all so much, I love you all so much,” she concluded.

The post shared multiple photos where the model smiled tiredly at the camera as IVs stuck out of her arms and legs. She even shared documents that proved the presence of the disease in her blood.

In her last photo, the model smiled tight-lipped while sitting on a transfusion chair in a pair of grey sweatpants and a simple white top. Noticeably, in most of her snaps, she had bandages covering the injection sites.

In a second Instagram post, she shared even more photos of her treatments. However, her dog was featured heavily in all of them as the canine remained faithfully by her side.

“And God Bless my Angel, Glizzy P. Beans aka Petunia aka Beans, For never leaving my side not for one second,” she captioned the loving images.

She also shared her appreciation for her dog for “never leaving” her side. Picture: Instagram

In July, the model revealed she was taking time off due to a flare-up in her Lyme disease, which had forced her to get daily treatment for the last four months.

Shortly after, she ended her two-year relationship with Marc Kalman.

“They were very in love, but the relationship ultimately ran its course and they decided to end things,” a source told ET at the time. “Bella is a very nice person, but struggles with the pressures of fame. She has been trying to take care of herself since their split.”

Since then, the model has been able to maintain her sobriety, which has been ongoing since January.

In January, she explained she made the decision to quit, saying, “I have done my fair share of drinking. I loved alcohol, and it got to the point where even I started to, you know, cancel nights out that I felt like I wouldn’t be able to control myself.”

Her sobriety came after she said that deciding what to wear filled her with “excruciating” anxiety.

“I would have really depressive episodes and my [mum] 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,” she told WSJ last January.

“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.”

And before that, she talked about how she “suffered from extreme depression and anxiety” for most of her teenage and adult life.

“My social anxiety was something that slowly crept up on me as I grew into my twenties,” she wrote on Instagram at the time. “It got harder for me to go out without having one drink to calm my nerves, which made me not want to go out at all, so I was just hibernating between jobs.”

She added, “With a life that is constantly pushing a social regimen, along with working 13 hour days, every single day, I knew this wasn’t a sustainable life for me.”

This article originally appeared in Page Six and is reproduced with permission.