Bella Hadid, Justin Bieber & More Celebrities Living With Lyme Disease

Yolanda Hadid Describes "Pain" of Watching Bella Hadid's Struggle With Lyme Disease

Bella Hadid has made it clear that her life is not picture-perfect.

The model was diagnosed with Lyme disease—an infectious tick-borne illness that can cause lingering fatigue, pain, muscle stiffness and other debilitating symptoms, sometimes for years—in 2012 when she was 16. And she still endures flare-ups to this day.

The now-29-year-old wrote in a June 25 Instagram Stories update that it can be "intimidating and difficult to explain" the experience of living with Lyme disease and the anxiety that results when "you think you've found the right protocol, the right routine, the right treatment," only to experience a recurrence.

"I have to remind myself that healing isn't linear," Hadid continued. "I believe God puts before us, somehow, only what we are capable of carrying, even when we don't understand why at the time. I know there is a deeper purpose to all things in life, and through experiences, good or bad, there is a silver lining."

And, she noted, "Sometimes it feels like, unless you've lived something like this, or loved someone who has, it's impossible to fully understand."

Amy Sussman/Getty Images, Daniele Venturelli/WireImage, Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for Vanity Fair

But, thanks to the likes of Hadid, her mom Yolanda Hadid (who's both lived it and experienced the pain of seeing her daughter go through it), Justin Timberlake, Justin Bieber, Kelly Osbourne and more who've shared their Lyme disease diagnoses with the world, more people who are struggling know that they're not alone.

“I don’t say [this] so you feel bad for me," Timberlake wrote on Instagram in July 2025, revealing he'd been battling the condition, "but to shed some light on what I’ve been up against behind the scenes."

When Avril Lavigne shared her struggle in 2015, she recalled how frustrating it was to even get a diagnosis in the first place, with doctors first suggesting she had chronic fatigue syndrome or asking if she was depressed.

So, Lavigne explained to People, "I had to fight. I had doctors tell me I was crazy and they didn’t want to test me. I had to learn about it completely on my own.”

And she eventually found out there were more people with her than she realized.

In the spirit of not having to go it alone, see more stars who've talked about having Lyme disease: