Wired up to various machines, an exhausted and weeping Bella Hadid clung desperately to her mother.
The photo was a stark contrast to the perfect image she projects on Instagram, where she’s usually seen walking runways in high-fashion clothes and posing with famous friends.
Last month, Yolanda Hadid, a reality TV star from the Netherlands, shared upsetting photos of her daughter, a supermodel, from a hospital in Germany. She posted the images to update fans on her daughter’s long-term health issues, which she has described as chronic Lyme disease affecting the nervous system.
A source recently shared with the Daily Mail that Bella is undergoing intense therapy abroad. Her mother is fully covering the costs, despite questions surrounding the specifics of Bella’s health.
Bella, 28, recently completed a month of intense treatment at St. George Hospital in Germany. Her mother, Yolanda, 61, shared that Bella has been struggling with a difficult illness since her diagnosis at age 16 in 2012. That same year, Yolanda and Bella’s brother, Anwar, also received diagnoses.
Located just outside Munich, the hospital features a specialized center dedicated to treating Lyme disease. They focus on a therapy called whole-body hyperthermia, which aims to eliminate the bacteria, Borrelia burgdorferi, that causes the disease. The clinic reports having successfully treated over 800 patients with long-term Lyme disease.
As a wellness expert, I’ve been following some fascinating new therapies, and one that’s gaining attention involves carefully raising a patient’s body temperature – we’re talking around 107°F – and holding it there for a couple of hours. The patient is comfortably sedated during this process, ensuring they experience no discomfort.
According to a source, Bella underwent two rounds of treatment, spaced a week apart. She also received two weeks of antibiotics, chelation therapy to remove heavy metals, and several peptide infusions. Photos shared by Yolanda and Bella show a catheter in her neck, which is used to filter specific parts of the blood, a process called apheresis.
Her mother apparently recommended a clinic stay that could have cost over $100,000. The clinic offered a variety of treatments, including laser therapy, detox footbaths, colon cleansing, and even ozone therapy – a controversial method involving the introduction of ozone gas into the body – for Lyme disease.
According to a source who spoke with the Daily Mail, Yolanda is a demanding mother, but she acts out of love for her children. The source believes Yolanda suggested and encouraged Bella to seek treatment in Germany, and to prioritize her health by taking a break from work.
Yolanda is very focused on overall wellness. Because she and the Hadid family are wealthy, they can afford to try treatments abroad that haven’t been approved by the FDA. They seek out top doctors and are willing to spend any amount of money for the best care, particularly for Bella, as Yolanda wants to prevent her from experiencing the same struggles she went through.
Yolanda, originally from a Santa Barbara ranch but now living in Beverly Hills, posted nine photos documenting her daughter’s medical treatments. One picture showed her daughter wrapped in damp towels, and another captured Yolanda and her daughter holding hands, both with medical tubes visible.
She wrote that she was so proud of him for getting through another month of treatment and that she believed in miracles. She prayed for his quick recovery, acknowledging the disease had been incredibly difficult, but expressing unwavering hope and determination to face the future together and keep fighting for brighter days.
Yolanda has received criticism regarding her and two of her children’s (excluding Gigi Hadid) diagnoses of chronic Lyme disease, as the medical community doesn’t universally acknowledge it as a standard condition.
Okay, so everyone *says* Lyme disease can’t stick around for years and years, even decades! Doctors keep telling you that, and it’s so frustrating because, as someone who’s really followed this, *we* know that’s just not true. They dismiss everything chronic Lyme patients say, but we *feel* it, we *live* it – it absolutely can persist, and it’s infuriating they won’t listen!
Actually, studies have found that people who believe they have long-term Lyme disease almost never show a positive result on standard blood tests for the infection.
Doctors warn that lengthy or intensive medical treatments can sometimes lead to dangerous and even fatal complications for patients.
The intensive whole-body hyperthermia treatment costs between $90,000 and $115,000 per week. The hospital’s website warns that potential side effects can include heart problems like low blood pressure, a fast heartbeat, and irregular rhythms, and, rarely, seizures.
St George Hospital states that complications from this procedure have been rare, occurring in less than 1% of over 18,000 cases performed since the late 1990s. Dr. Friedrich R. Douwes began researching its benefits as part of a holistic cancer treatment approach at the hospital around that time.
Yolanda believes ozone therapy has helped her 26-year-old son, Anwar, but it’s a treatment with some debate. In 2019, the FDA cautioned that there wasn’t enough proof it worked or was safe. As for chelation therapy, the FDA only approves it for treating cases of heavy metal poisoning.
Professor Hany Elsheikha, a parasitology chairman at the University of Nottingham, explained to the Daily Mail that many doctors don’t acknowledge or agree on the existence of chronic Lyme disease, making it a debated topic.
This situation is complex and often unclear. However, because people are feeling vulnerable, false information tends to spread rapidly.
Often, when people experience symptoms, they might actually be caused by an underlying health issue that hasn’t been identified yet, like a serious vitamin deficiency or a mental health condition.
One of our sources believes Bella is facing a lot of pressure to maintain a specific appearance due to her modeling work, which is also potentially impacting her health. They explained that constant travel and irregular eating habits weaken the immune system, making her more vulnerable to illness.
Yolanda’s family’s struggles also sparked concern among her former colleagues on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, with some suggesting she might have Munchausen syndrome – a condition where a person pretends to be sick to gain attention.
In 2016, Yolanda Hadid’s health became a significant topic of discussion, particularly regarding her Lyme disease diagnosis. Kyle Richards found it difficult to believe that several family members could have the same condition, even calling it ‘crazy’ despite Yolanda having previously been recognized for raising awareness about Lyme disease.
Kyle responded to Yolanda, who had taken out her silicone breast implants because she worried they were making her illness worse, by saying, “Seriously, did you all get bitten by ticks? It’s just so strange that three of you in the family are dealing with this.”
A major argument erupted when Lisa Rinna was accused of starting a rumor that Yolanda might have Munchausen syndrome. Yolanda immediately denied it, and others quickly came to her support.
Yolanda had a surprising experience that made her decide to keep details about her children’s health to herself. According to a source, she now avoids discussing her daughters, even with close friends, and prioritizes their privacy.
Her daughters are the most important thing in her life. She’s a very private person and fiercely protective of them, always putting their well-being first. Ultimately, she simply wants her daughters and herself to be healthy and happy.
Most people with Lyme disease get better after taking antibiotics, but some continue to experience symptoms for weeks or even months. This is often called post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS).
Yolanda, diagnosed with an illness by a doctor in Belgium, turned to alternative treatments after antibiotics didn’t help. In her 2017 book, ‘Believe Me,’ she described trying things like herbal enemas – believed to remove parasites – and even receiving stem cell therapy in an unconventional setting: a hotel basement in Tijuana. The book details her journey to find a cure.
She’s often tested health treatments on her children, using herself as the first experiment. If something seemed to help her even a little, she’d try it on them too.
In August 2023, Bella shared that she had finished over 100 days of treatment for chronic Lyme disease and related infections. She posted photos showing herself with IVs and connected to medical equipment.
She expressed gratitude to her mother for maintaining her medical records and for always being there for her – offering unwavering support, protection, and, most importantly, believing in her throughout everything she’s been going through.
According to a source, Yolanda and Bella are smart to keep sharing photos. The source explained that Bella, in particular, is constantly in the public eye and wants to avoid any speculation about her well-being, such as rumors about drug use, entering rehab, or having cosmetic surgery.
The Lyme Action Network, a US-based advocacy group dedicated to raising awareness and funding for Lyme disease, reports that long-term Lyme can cause a wide range of symptoms. These can include pain in the ribs, digestive problems, bladder issues, irregular periods, seeing spots in your vision, increased sensitivity to alcohol, and even disorientation.
Testing for the condition is another point of contention.
As a lifestyle expert focused on wellness, I’ve learned a lot about Lyme disease, and one thing I often hear from advocates is frustration with current testing methods. They point out that most standard tests look for the *antibodies* your body makes to fight the Lyme bacteria, not the bacteria itself. This is a key concern because antibody responses can linger long after the initial infection, or sometimes not even develop, potentially leading to false negatives or unclear results. They believe testing should focus on directly detecting the bacteria for a more accurate diagnosis.
The Lyme Action Network website explains that people can still have Lyme disease even if standard blood tests, like Western Blot or ELISA, don’t show any signs of the infection.
Dr. Michael Scoma, an infectious disease specialist in New York City, explained that Bella needs a clear diagnosis. This means doctors should thoroughly investigate and eliminate other possible long-term conditions that cause similar symptoms, including tick-borne illnesses affecting the nervous system, long COVID, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, or autoimmune diseases.
Bella has shared that she experiences a range of symptoms, including trouble walking, joint and muscle pain, feeling sick to her stomach, headaches, and being sensitive to light and sound. She’s also dealt with memory problems – she once forgot how to drive a familiar route – and had to be homeschooled because of extreme fatigue. Unfortunately, this illness ended her promising career as a horseback rider and dashed her Olympic dreams.
As a wellness advocate, I often hear from people describing a really challenging set of symptoms, and honestly, I recognize a lot of them in myself. I’ve been dealing with this – feeling at least ten of these impacts – since I was about fourteen, but it definitely ramped up when I turned eighteen. Back in 2020, I shared a visual guide on Instagram to show just how wide-ranging the effects of Lyme disease can be, because it’s so much more than just a tick bite.
Being at St George hospital appears to have given Bella a positive outlook, which is different from some other patients who haven’t seen any improvement or have even felt worse after their treatment.
She was so pleased with the care she received that she even considered hiring one of the nurses. According to another source, she found one of the nurses particularly kind and wanted to bring her back to the US as a private caregiver.
She later apologized to her fans on Instagram for being unavailable, explaining she was back at Paris Fashion Week walking the runway for Yves Saint Laurent.
When a fan asked about sharing details of her health, she replied that she plans to do so soon, but is currently focusing on regaining her strength.
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2025-10-09 18:39