Bella Hadid's Candid Revelation on Plastic Surgery and Self-Image Struggles
Many individuals consider 25-year-old Bella Hadid to be the contemporary equivalent of the supermodels from the 1990s. Back in that period, the fashion-dominating ladies could handle haute fashion runways along with commercial promotions, attaining household-name status in the course. Hadid follows suit; since commencing her career in 2014, she has emerged as one of the world's top-earning models and presently boasts 50.2 million followers on Instagram.
Just like all gifted and attractive women in the limelight, Hadid's looks have over time been a subject of plastic surgery conjectures. Her distinct features are frequently attributed to the increased demand for trendy cosmetic procedures, such as the canthoplasty and the non-invasive fox-eye thread lift. Nevertheless, the model has consistently denied undergoing any such enhancements (in 2018, Hadid informed InStyle that she was “terrified” of plastic surgery and fillers altering her face) – until recently.
In the cover story of the April issue of Vogue, Hadid disclosed her lifelong battles with mental well-being, body image, and the remorse she has felt after undergoing rhinoplasty when she was merely 14 years old.
During the interview, Hadid spoke openly about her fight against depression and elaborated on her struggles with Lyme disease. She perceives the irony of success in her chosen profession, stating to the publication, “I constantly question myself, how did a girl with extreme insecurities, anxiety, depression, body-image concerns, eating disorders, who detests being touched, and who has severe social anxiety – what was I thinking entering this line of work?”
Hadid reveals that when comparing herself to her elder sister, supermodel Gigi Hadid, who was blonde and popular at school, she always felt like the “less attractive sister”. As a teenager, she endured intense scrutiny regarding her appearance, which led to her decision to have a nose job. She now concedes that she wishes she hadn't gone through with the operation. “I wish I had retained the nose of my forebears,” says Hadid, who is half-Palestinian. “I believe I would have adapted to it.”
Rhinoplasty is a surgical procedure that can modify the size, structure, and shape of the nose. The operation has a 91% satisfaction rating and costs an average of $7,725, and it consistently ranks among the top five cosmetic surgeries. Nose reshaping is also one of the most sought-after surgeries among 13- to 19-year-olds. However, Hadid's experience could serve as a cautionary tale to wait until one is older before undergoing the knife.
Nevertheless, she is prompt to emphasize that while she has no objection to cosmetic surgery, it simply isn't for her. The model denies ever having used fillers or undergone any other cosmetic surgeries. “Whoever assumes I've had my eyes lifted or whatever – it's face tape! The oldest trick known.” (Some physicians are skeptical about the transformative capabilities of face tape in the eye area, but many TikTok users swear by it, so make of that information what you will…)
Currently, Hadid feels more positive about herself – partly due to a routine that encompasses talk therapy, medications, holistic practices, and frequent visits to her family farm in Pennsylvania. She tells Vogue that she must exert effort to maintain a sense of well-being and self-approval while working in an industry that is notorious for intensifying feelings of low self-esteem and negative body image among young women. “Fashion can either build you up or break you down. And if it builds you up, you have to make a deliberate effort to prevent it from breaking you,” she remarks.
