Bella Hadid is one of the most in-demand models in the world here are 15 things you didn't know
In a few short years, Bella Hadid has become something of an unlikely household name, rising to supermodel status after modest reality-TV exposure and a knack for social media.
Keep reading to learn more about Bella, who has staked her claim as the more "mysterious" Hadid sister.
Modeling runs in her family.
Bella is the second daughter of Mohamed and Yolanda Hadid, who divorced in 2000.
Her father is a real-estate mogul and her mother, before starring on Bravo's "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills," rose to fame as a teenager after being signed to the Ford agency.
Yolanda seemingly passed her supermodel genes down to all three of her children. Shortly after Gigi Hadid broke into the industry in 2014 as the cover girl for CR Fashion Book, Bella followed suit with a slew of runway shows.
Anwar, their little brother, is currently growing his own brand after signing with the same agency as his sisters, IMG Models, in 2016.
"I've shot my children since they were born," Yolanda said on Australia's "Today Extra." "I always dressed them up, shot them at the barn on the horses… [but] I was always very strict about the fact that I never wanted them to really work until they're 18 years old. I really didn't want anybody judging them on the way that they looked."
She has Dutch and Palestinian roots and she is a Muslim.
As a result of their heritage, both Bella and Gigi have weighed in on the Israel-Palestine conflict and voiced their support for Palestinian protesters. Gigi has said that her support is "not about religion," but rather because she is "pro-coexistence."
Bella opened up about the conflict in an emotional Instagram post in December 2017.
"Watching the news and seeing the pain of the Palestinian people makes me cry for the many many generations of Palestine," she wrote. "The TREATMENT of the Palestinian people is unfair, one-sided and should not be tolerated. I stand with Palestine."
The sisters were also photographed attending the "No Ban No Wall" march in New York. Bella told Porter magazine that the issue is "very close to home" because their father was "a refugee when he first came to America."
"My dad was always religious, and he always prayed with us," she said. "I am proud to be a Muslim."
She made her runway debut in 2014.
During New York Fashion Week in the fall of 2014, Bella was introduced on the Desigual runway. Shortly after, she landed her first solo magazine cover for the December issue of Jalouse.
In the years since, Bella has walked in countless shows for designers like Marc Jacobs, Moschino, Chanel, and Fendi.
She pursued a photography degree at Parsons School of Design.
In the summer of 2014, Bella moved to New York City to attend the prestigious art school Parsons.
"There wasn't really one time in my life where I was like, 'I want to be a model!' It was more Gigi's thing," Bella told Teen Vogue in 2014. "I do like being in front of the camera more and more. Having experience behind it has taught me about lighting and angles, how to move, and what looks good and what doesn't."
She's a natural blonde, but dyed her hair brown to set herself apart from Gigi.
"I just have a darker personality. And my sister being blonde and me being brunette, it's a good separation," Bella told Allure. "I put a blonde wig on and think it would be fun to go back, but I'm happy with my hair. Blondes are so angelic. My sister can get away with anything."
She also told Teen Vogue that her new hair contributes to her reputation as "the black sheep of the family."
"[Gigi and I are] very similar — we even have the same voice — but my whole life, she's been the one with the good grades. She's beautiful, smart, and funny, and I've always been the one who kind of rebels," Bella said. "I just wanted to show people that we're different."
She originally had dreams of becoming an Olympic equestrian.
"My devotion stemmed from my mom's love of horses," Bella told Porter magazine in 2015. "I have been riding since I could walk and the fact that my mom knew everything about horses really helped my passion grow."
Growing up, Bella was a regular at Far West Farms in California. Her trainer, Lisa Winn, told Elle that even as a young teenager, "she came out every day. She was a beautiful rider, but she really worked at it."
I am full again...Blessings...❤️
Even after launching her modeling career, Bella hoped to land a spot on the 2016 US Olympics team. At 18 years old, Bella was an award-winning, nationally ranked equestrian.
She was diagnosed with Lyme disease in 2013 — and still struggles with the chronic symptoms.
Bella's mother, who also struggles with chronic symptoms of the tick-borne illness — including exhaustion, joint pain, and fatigue — opened up about Bella's diagnosis on "Real Housewives."
"I have two children that have severe, suppressed immune systems," she said. "Both Bella and Anwar have Lyme disease. … We lived on a horse ranch. We had ticks everywhere, every day of our lives."
Yolanda also wrote on her Bravo TV blog that, since their diagnoses in 2013, Bella and Anwar "have been in extensive holistic treatment."
Bella told Evening Standard that it was "a dark time" when she first got sick during junior year of high school. She said she was "exhausted all the time" and couldn't remember things properly.
"I still have Lyme in my spine; my back has been in excruciating pain for three years," she told Evening Standard in 2015. "I have it in all my joints and it goes up to my brain."
Bella grew too sick to ride. She even sold her beloved horse, Lego, because she couldn't take care of him: "It was like a breakup," she told Teen Vogue. "I was really traumatized."
"Bella had to give up her lifelong dream of having a professional riding career and a shot at the Olympics due to her severe symptoms and inability to ride," Yolanda wrote on her blog. "This was the biggest heartbreak of her life and an extremely sensitive subject for her. She is resilient and focused on a new direction — she's made a name for herself in the modeling industry while she struggles with symptoms of chronic Lyme every day."
She was the youngest person on Forbes' 2017 list of highest-paid models.
Bella came in ninth place on Forbes' 2017 list of highest-paid models, having made $6 million. The 21-year-old was the youngest person who made the list, after a "busy year posing for more than a dozen brands including Dior makeup, Nike and Nars cosmetics."
With Gigi scoring the fifth-place spot, it marked the first time any two siblings had appeared on the ranking at the same time.
She is currently worth an estimated $18 million.
Celebrity Net Worth reported that Bella lays claim to a cool $18 million fortune.
The website attributes this massive wealth to her countless magazine covers — including Elle, Teen Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and three international editions of Vogue — as well as her success on the runway.
Recently, Bella shot a much-discussed spread for the cover of Pop magazine.
She is the face of Dior Parfums and Dior Beauty.
"As the new face of Dior Parfums, Hadid has scored one of fashion's most lucrative contracts thanks to her sphinx-like beauty," Business of Fashion reported.
As the publication noted, Bella also has deep ties to big-name fashion houses like Givenchy, Balmain, and Alexander Wang.
She dealt with anxiety as her spotlight grew stronger.
Bella opened up about getting anxiety attacks on an episode of her mom's reality show, "Making a Model."
Bella said that when her fame skyrocketed, she remembered panicking before doing red carpet interviews.
"My sister is very bubbly and very out-there, and I was always very reserved," she said. "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."
"It gets a lot better once you have to talk to people every day," Bella continued. "Then you're like, 'OK, I guess it's my job, I have to do it.'"
She believes in healing crystals and meditates regularly.
Bella told Harper's Bazaar that amythest is her favorite crystal and she typically carries multiple crystals with her at a time: "I need to keep myself zen."
"I always keep my essential oils with me, and my crystals," she told Vogue UK. "I make sure I have a good energy on the plane because sometimes I panic if I fly too much. … I have all my crystals on the farm at home and we make sure they're all charged before I travel."
She also told Harper's Bazaar that she used to meditate every night and she still does so "a lot."
"If I'm not putting my energy into fully meditating, then I just listen to meditation music to sleep," she said. "I know all my music meditation playlist by heart now though. I know exactly when the second song starts, I'll fall asleep."
She was bullied in school because of her "weird face."
Bella told InStyle in May that she had to "learn how to be" confident after feeling insecure as a teen.
"I had a small waist and big hips and was kind of chubby. I love them now, but I was always self-conscious of my hips — whereas my sister had a six-pack and was very athletic," she said. "And I thought I had such a weird face. I remember very distinctly getting bullied because of my features."
"People think I got all this surgery or did this or that. And you know what? We can do a scan of my face, darling," she continued. "I'm scared of putting fillers into my lips. I wouldn't want to mess up my face."
She wants to explore acting.
Her June 2016 cover story for Elle noted that "she'd love to try acting if only she could get over her shyness."
Bella also told Glamour in May that she could see herself acting in the future.
"One day I'd like to explore movies, but I'm bad at remembering lines so hopefully they have good prompters on set," she said.
She recently reunited with her longtime love, Abel Tesfaye, aka The Weeknd.
In early 2016, Bella spoke glowingly of her boyfriend, Abel Tesfaye — aka rapper and singer The Weeknd. She told Elle that he soothed her nerves about the magazine's long photo shoot, and that he made her "feel comfortable and calm."
"I love seeing him happy and passionate about his art. Being able to see how he works, and put both of our workplaces together, turned out to be really beautiful," she said.
She also opened up about their relationship in August 2016 after Tesfaye won a Grammy.
"I'm dating Abel. I don't see him as The Weeknd," she told Glamour. "I'm proud of The Weeknd and the music he makes, but I really love Abel."
The couple broke up in November 2016 after more than a year of dating. They spent some time apart — despite their very public reunion at the 2016 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show that same month — but certainly seem to have gotten back together this past summer.
Most recently, Tesfaye posted a slideshow of romantic photos on Tuesday in celebration of Bella's birthday, calling her his "angel."
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