Bella Hadid Details 'Excruciating and Debilitating' Mental Health Struggles

In a new Q&A-style interview with WSJ. Magazine for its "My Monday Morning" series, the model detailed her struggles with anxiety and depression, while also sharing an update on how she's doing now.

After answering questions about her Monday morning routine, Hadid, 25, was asked if she has a "secret to putting together a great outfit in the morning." In response, she revealed she hasn't had a stylist for "a long time, maybe two years now" and explained why.

"I was in such a weird place mentally that it was really complicated for me to get out of the house and put an outfit together, especially with the anxiety of [paparazzi] being outside and all that," Hadid told WSJ. Magazine, adding, "In the last year, it was really important for me to learn that even if people talk about my style or if they like it or if they don't, it doesn’t matter, because it's my style."

"When I leave the house in the morning, what I think about is: Does this make me happy? Do I feel good in this and do I feel comfortable?" she said.

Hadid went on to open up about the Instagram post she shared in November, in which she spoke about suffering from anxiety and depression, as well as facing insecurities and struggles with her self-image. The post also featured several photos of herself crying.

Speaking more about her mental health issues, Hadid explained to WSJ. Magazine why she began taking photos of herself crying and why she decided to share some of them with her followers.

"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 said. "It was the easiest thing for me to do at the time because I was never able to explain how I was feeling."

Hadid added, "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."

"[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 shared. "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."

Hadid then gave an update on how she's doing now.

"I do have good days. Today is a good day," she shared. "My brain fog is feeling better, I don't feel depressed. 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," Hadid continued, before reflecting on how fans reacted to her Instagram post. "That post made me less lonely because I 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."

"I don't know if that’s not what people want on Instagram, and that's fine," she explained. "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."