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."
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:
The model has been candid about the low points of living with Lyme disease since she was diagnosed at 16 in 2012.
"Living in this state, worsening with time and work while trying to make myself, my family and the people who support me, proud, had taken a toll on me in ways I can’t really explain,” Hadid wrote on Instagram in 2023. “The universe works in the most painful and beautiful ways but I need to say that if you are struggling—it will get better.”
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum has spoken about her own battle and was first to share in 2015 that daughter Bella was in the same boat.
"I can't begin to describe the darkness, the pain and the hell I lived through every day," Yolanda told British Vogue in 2021. "For some time, it didn't even feel like living at all. This disease brought me to my knees.
When Bella was hospitalized with a flare-up of symptons in September 2025, the former model wrote on Instagram, "I am so proud of the fighter that you are. You are not alone, I promise to have your back every step of the way, no matter how long this takes."
The "Sorry" singer shared in January 2020 that he was trying to bounce back from a bout with Lyme disease and "chronic mono," clapping back in an Instagram post at haters who opined that he looked "like s--t, on meth."
He added, "It's been a rough couple years but getting the right treatment that will help treat this so far incurable disease and I will be back and better than ever NO CAP."
After wrapping up his Forget Tomorrow World Tour in July 2025, Timberlake shared what had been rocking his body behind the scenes.
Though admittedly surprised by his diagnosis, he wrote on Instagram, "at least I could understand why I would be onstage and in a massive amount of nerve pain or, just feeling crazy fatigue or sickness. I was faced with a personal decision. Stop touring? Or, keep going and figure it out. I decided the joy that performing brings me far outweighs the fleeting stress my body was feeling."
"Lyme disease does affect your life for sure," the singer, who said the condition damaged her vocal cords, told E! News in 2017. "It's such a silent evil thing."
And the symptoms, which "you just learn to live with," left her feeling like not much of anything.
"I was lucky that I caught it early," Twain noted. "I did get a lot of damage but I'm not battling with degenerative organ issues so I feel very fortunate."
Osbourne said she went undiagnosed for 10 years before doctors figured out in 2014 that she had stage III neurological Lyme disease.
"My prescriptions kept piling up," she wrote in her 2017 memoir There Is no F--king Secret: Letters From a Badass B--ch. Eventually, she recalled thinking, "I can't live like this anymore. I'm a vegetable."
Though treatment had worked for her, Osbourne noted that she'd since acquired celeb-sharing fatigue, writing, "Since I know firsthand how awfully debilitating it is, I know who really has it and who is just trying to prolong their 15 minutes."
The "Complicated" singer said that she was bedridden for five months and thought she was dying at one point before she was diagnosed.
"I went from doctor to doctor for about eight months until I found somebody that had the knowledge of Lyme disease and the experience of treating it," Lavigne said on Good Morning America in April 2015. "I actually knew I had it the whole time, probably since the summer, and was just up against a lot of doctors telling me, ‘You’re crazy, some of them were like, ‘It doesn’t exist.'"
Jonas didn't pinpoint the timeline of her journey, but she went on quite the ride before getting an accurate diagnosis.
“They tried to tell me it was anxiety,” the mother of two, who's been married to Kevin Jonas since 2009, told Parents in October 2025. “Finally, I had a biopsy that showed I actually had Lyme disease. I also had eczema on my scalp, which was likely from the inflammation. The hair loss was very traumatic. I got to a point where I wanted to wear a wig.”
The Zoolander star said in 2011 that he'd had Lyme disease for a few years since contracting it in Nantucket, Mass.
"My knee became inflamed and they couldn’t figure out what it was, then they found out it was Lyme," Stiller told The Hollywood Reporter. "I’m symptom-free now, but Lyme doesn’t ever leave your system. It’s a really tough thing."
The "Lost in Your Eyes" singer was determined not to let Lyme disease lead after being diagnosed in 2013.
"I started to think that I couldn't count on my self and that I needed all this outside help to stay healthy," Gibson told E! News after her run on Dancing With the Stars ended in September 2017. "The inspiration of doing this has healed me more than any doctor, any supplement—anything. So that's a really profound life moment. That's what I take away."
The Train Wreck star took her usual humorous approach to disclosing her Lyme disease diagnosis, writing on Instagram in September 2020, "Anyone get Lyme this summer? I got it and I’m on doxycycline. I have maybe had it for years. Any advice?"
Namely, she added, "Can you have a glass of wine or 2 on it? I know to stay out of the sun."
The father of eight was admittedly worried he might not survive Lyme disease.
“I really thought this is it, I’m not going to live,” he said at the 2017 LymeAid gala. “I was lying in bed saying, ‘I’m going to die of Lyme disease’ in my bed and ‘I hope someone finds me and I’m not here for too long.’”
The Daisy Jones and the Six actress said in 2023 that what she had "going on physically with the autoimmune stuff" led to her going the surrogacy route to become a mom, welcoming daughter Tupelo in August 2022 with husband Ben Smith-Petersen.
Confirming she had Lyme disease, Keough told Vanity Fair that she was in Switzerland at a "holistic treatment center" that "offers all kinds of things that you can't really do in America yet, like cleaning your blood."
"I've done a lot of things that have made me tired, but this was beyond tired," the Bachelorette alum said on wife Trista Sutter's Better Etc. podcast in 2021, detailing the pile-up of symptoms that led to his diagnosis about a year into the figuring-it-out process.
"I now essentially have Lyme disease," Ryan said. "It seems like that's something that I will always have. It's just that, now, I know and I can start to try to build back my immune system so I can fight it off."
The Real Housewives of New York City star told E! News she was diagnosed in March 2020 after first feeling sick around Valentine's Day.
"We caught it early," Singer said, "and I'm very lucky and very blessed."