Supermodels like Bella Hadid look like the very definition of confidence—walking down the Victoria’s Secret runway in lingerie is no job for a wallflower. However, even Hadid struggles with anxiety, an illness that affects more than 18% of the adult population in America.
In a recent episode of “Making a Model,” her mom Yolanda Hadid’s reality show, Bella sat down with four contestants to chat about the competition. One of the aspiring models talked about her own issues dealing with social anxiety, which spurred Bella on to open up about her own anxiety. Bella describes her sister Gigi as “bubbly and out there,” but says she is personally more reserved in nature—a trait she says didn’t gel well with being thrust into the spotlight and onto the red carpet at a young age.
Bella says she was left “crying and shaking” from her anxiety. “Believe me, I get it and I understand it. I was totally there,” she told the contestant. “My sister is very bubbly and very out there, and I was always very reserved. I would literally start crying and shaking if I had to do interviews at red carpet events. It was really nerve-racking and it’s scary, and it’s not only you.” Today, Bella says she handles the spotlight better, but still has moments of anxiety.
The 21-year-old also dished some advice on how she learned to deal with social anxiety: “It gets a lot better once you have to talk to people every day,” Bella said. “Then you’re like, ‘Okay, I guess it’s my job, I have to do it!”
