Hailey Bieber is sharing how she prioritizes her mental health.
While speaking at the Forbes Under 30 Summit in Detroit on Oct. 3, the Rhode skincare founder spoke about her relationship with social media and why it's important for her to unplug from it at times.
"I think in terms of mental health it can be really, really hard sometimes," she said. "And I think sometimes it's important to take a step back and stay off of social media sometimes, which is something that I struggle with and I have to be intentional about not reading comments and taking breaks."
Hailey admitted it can be hard to ignore negativity online. "I think sometimes as humans we look for the bad," she continued. "We look for that one bad comment, or we look for that one bad review. So, I've had to be as intentional as possible to not do that."
This isn't the first time Hailey has spoken about social media toxicity. In March 2021, she spoke about the level of public scrutiny she received after she wed Justin Bieber (the model and the singer tied the knot in a New York courthouse in 2018 and then exchanged vows again in a South Carolina wedding the following year).
"I think one of the biggest things I struggled with for sure was the comparison aspect of body comparison and looks comparison and behavior comparison," she said in one of her YouTube videos, seemingly referencing how she and Selena Gomez (who used to date Justin) were pitted against each other by followers. "I think when you're going through a situation where you just have so many people hounding you with the same thing over and over and over again it starts to mess with your mind and then you start to question everything and you're like, 'Is this something that I'm not seeing that they see? Maybe they're right.' It got to such a low point to me that I was like, 'Honestly, maybe I'm delusional.' It's like separating two realities, essentially."
So, Hailey set boundaries in her social media usage, including deactivating her Twitter and turning off Instagram comments from people she doesn't follow.
"One of the things that I found really helped me is I started doing something where I don't go on Instagram Monday through Friday," she continued in the video. "I don't even have a Twitter anymore because there was never really a time I would go on there that it didn't feel like it was a very toxic environment. The thought of even opening the app gives me such anxiety that I feel like I'm going to throw up. So I got rid of that because I was just like, 'It just needs to go. It needs to just not be part of my life.'"
The model also credited therapy and support from Justin with helping her. And ultimately, she tries not to put too much focus on other people's opinions.
"We're all human beings that we have our good days and we have our bad days," Hailey noted. "And I want everyone to like me. It's part of my downfall at times, and I'm working through it. I think one thing I've had to come to the conclusion of is trying not to feel like I owe anybody an explanation or owe anybody anything and really trying to just correct what I need to correct personally and behind closed doors and do the work personally and behind closed doors and have the important conversations. I'm still figuring out the fact that I don't have to explain myself."