Opening Up About Her 'Debilitating' Anxiety Has Helped Bella Hadid 'Feel Less Lonely'

On Instagram, Bella Hadid's page is flooded with her modeling shots and photos from her worldwide travels — which is why two months ago, the 25-year-old posted a set of tearful selfies to show fans that nothing is ever as it seems, as she too struggles with her mental health.

"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. It was the easiest thing for me to do at the time because I was never able to explain how I was feeling," she shared with WSJ. Magazine's My Monday Morning series. "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."

"It was to make sure that anybody that was feeling that way knew it was OK to feel that way," the star said of publicizing her problems. "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, who also has Lyme disease, acknowledged that not everyone wants to hear about her struggles, but that's not going to deter her from being candid about her mental health. "I feel like real is the new real," she noted. "And that’s what’s important to me."

Lately, the cover girl has been feeling better, as her "brain fog" has lessened, and she hasn't been feeling depressed or as anxious as she usually does — but she revealed that things can take a turn for the worse at any second.

"That’s why I get so overwhelmed," she explained. "But 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."