When you head to Bella Hadid's Instagram profile, what do you see?
Sure, there are photos from her glamorous modeling campaigns and photo shoots, but the 25-year-old runway star also uses her platform for a bigger purpose: to discuss mental health and her Lyme disease diagnosis, reminding her 48.5 million followers that they are not alone in their own journeys.
In addition to sharing her experience with Lyme disease, Bella has spoken about her battles with anxiety and depression. She began taking pictures of herself, like the ones she shared in November of herself crying while reflecting on "breakdowns and burnouts," to better communicate to her mom, Yolanda Hadid, and her doctor how she was feeling.
"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," she explained to WSJ. Magazine for its My Monday Morning series. "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."
Bella knew that by opening up she could help others and remind them that life isn't always the highlight reel that they see on Instagram.
"[When I posted them] it was to make sure that anybody that was feeling that way knew it was OK to feel that way," she told the publication. "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."
When asked how she's doing today, Bella noted that she has "good days" and that this was one of them.
"My brain fog is feeling better, I don't feel depressed," she said. "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."
However, she said sharing the post of her crying made her feel "less lonely" because she "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," she continued. "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."
Bella shared a similar message when she uploaded her post in November, informing her followers that "this is pretty much my everyday, every night for a few years now."
"Social media is not real," she wrote in part of the post. "For anyone struggling , please remember that. Sometimes all you've gotta hear is that you're not alone. So from me to you, you're not alone. I love you, I see you, and I hear you."