Bella Hadid opens up about career doubts and pain amid lyme disease treatment

Bella Hadid has opened up about the emotional toll her Lyme disease battle took on both her career and sense of self.

The 29-year-old supermodel revealed that she felt “disposable” after stepping back from work for nearly a year in 2025 while undergoing treatment for the chronic illness. 

Speaking candidly to her sister, Gigi Hadid, in an interview for Vogue Italy, Bella reflected on the mental struggle of turning down opportunities at the height of her career.

“I was emotional because you feel disposable,” she said, explaining how difficult it was to say no to jobs she once would have automatically accepted.

Bella, who was first diagnosed with Lyme disease at 16 in 2013, shared that therapy played a crucial role in helping her separate her professional achievements from her identity.

“How good I am doesn't have to do with the jobs that I say yes to,” she explained. “For so long, saying no to a job was, like, who was I to say no to anything?”

The model admitted that stepping away forced her to confront long-held beliefs about productivity and worth. Over time, she reached a place where she no longer felt obligated to accept every opportunity simply to maintain momentum.

“I had to kind of release it,” she said. “I think people know my heart and my personality and who I am enough now that I can release that and really do the jobs that are with and for the people that I love and trust and support and respect.”

Despite enduring both emotional and physical pain during treatment, Bella has since embraced new creative avenues, including an acting role in The Beauty from producer Ryan Murphy.

“When Ryan talks, you listen,” she said, praising the producer for pushing her beyond her comfort zone. 

“He made me go really outside of my comfort zone… the control to look good or to do things perfectly. He just said: ‘I need you to freak out.’”

Filming the series spanned roughly six months, with half of that time coinciding with her treatments. Bella admitted she was “in a lot of pain both emotionally and physically,” while also navigating personal challenges.

Still, she found purpose in channeling her struggles into her craft.

“I was able to really manifest that in my body and put it into the art and to the work,” she said. “And that for me was really fulfilling… to be able to express myself in that way.”