The fight to feel better. Bella Hadid took to Snapchat on Monday, August 29, to give fans a glimpse into her ongoing battle with Lyme disease.
The 19-year-old model shared a photo of her arm hooked up to an IV while hanging out at home. “Everyday,” she captioned the snapshot.
In a November 2015 interview with ES Magazine, the brunette beauty — whose mom, Yolanda Foster, and brother, Anwar Hadid, also suffer from Lyme disease — opened up about her debilitating condition.
“It affected my memory, so I suddenly wouldn’t remember how to drive to Santa Monica from Malibu, where I lived,” Bella, whose diagnosis was revealed by Foster, 52, at the Global Lyme Alliance Gala in NYC last fall, recalled. “I couldn’t ride [horses]. I was just too sick. And I had to sell my horse because I couldn’t take care of it.”
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Prior to contracting the tick-borne illness (which has flulike symptoms), the catwalk queen had hoped to compete in the equestrian events at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Her mother revealed in a January 2016 blog post that her youngest daughter’s dream had been placed on hold because of her struggling health.
![Gigi Hadid, Anwar Hadid and Bella Hadid attend 2015 Global Lyme Alliance Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street on October 8, 2015 in New York City.](/wp-content/uploads/gigi-anwar-bella-hadid-zoom-3be75744-a05e-451c-abd4-db8e37723c4e.jpg?w=1000&quality=82&strip=all)
“Bella had to give up her lifelong dream of having a professional riding career and a shot at the Olympics due to her severe symptoms and inability to ride,” wrote the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum, who was diagnosed with Lyme in 2012. “This was the biggest heartbreak of her life and an extremely sensitive subject for her. She is resilient and focused on a new direction — she’s made a name for herself in the modeling industry while she struggles with symptoms of chronic Lyme every day.”
Foster’s battle against the disease and attempt to bring more attention to it has been documented extensively on the last few seasons of RHOBH.
Bella’s sister and fellow model, Gigi Hadid (who does not have the autoimmune disease), spoke to Entertainment Tonight in October 2015 about the pain of watching her loved ones suffer.
“I’m the only one in, of my siblings, my mom and my family, that hasn’t been affected by Lyme disease,” Gigi tearfully said at the time. “It’s been really hard for me because I’m the only one that doesn’t really understand it.”
The 21-year-old added: “What’s been hardest for me is just trying to find a way to be their hope and kind of be a strength for them, even with the disease that I can’t understand fully because I haven’t been through it.”