Bella Hadid Was All Set To Be An Olympian, Lyme Disease Crushed Dreams

Bella Hadid is a catwalk queen, but did you know that she wanted to be an Olympian? She has modelled for several high-profile brands like Chanel, Burberry, Topshop, and Balmain. However, it’s not a very well known fact that Bella is also a nationally ranked equestrian. That’s not all. This catwalk queen was also training to compete in the Olympics.

However, the reason Bella could not take her dreams any further was because she contracted Lyme Disease in 2012. Although Bella hasn’t been very vocal about her struggle with Lyme disease, her mother, Yolanda Foster, opened up about it. She accepted “Power of One” award at the inaugural Global Lyme Alliance gala and said “watching [her] babies struggle in silence in order to support me in my journey, struck the deepest core of hopelessness inside of [her].”

She has talked about her struggle on The Dr. Oz Show. She said Bella wanted to be a professional horseback rider and that she’s been training since she was two. However, since the disease struck her, Bella started to make mistakes. Yolanda went on to say that one has to be very sharp at making calculations in order to be a good equestrian, but Bella wasn’t able to do that anymore.

“Bella wanted to be a professional horseback rider, and her dream was to go to the Olympics,” Yolanda explained, according to the Daily Mail. “She’s been on a horse every day of her life since she was 2 years old. She jumped 4’5” courses and you need to have a very sharp brain in order to do the calculations. And she started making mistakes.”

She said Bella wasn’t taking the right strides and that big accidents started to happen because she wasn’t thinking right due to the disease. She talked at length about how the disease limited Bella and came in the way of her performance.

“My focus, my energy goes to trying to get well, trying to make a difference, trying to find a cure for my children,” she says about the disease, Teen Vogue reported.

Although Bella couldn’t be a good horseback rider, she’s done pretty well for herself in the world of modelling.

There were reports that Bella Hadid may be getting married to The Weeknd. Celeb Dirty Laudry said they were spotted in London, with Bella wearing a possible engagement ring.

The Weeknd, also known as Abel Tesfaye, was spotted with Hadid in London while they were there for the Brit Awards. She was wearing a ring, and it’s not clear if it was an engagement ring from the singer. They have been dating since May 2015. However, the magazine later said that the ring was indeed not an engagement ring.

Bella seems to be too much in love with her boyfriend, and she dubbed him the singer as “favorite person on the planet” in an Instagram.

The two seem to be very supportive of each other. According to Bustle, Bella was with him at this year’s Grammys and shared a picture with a caption, “This is YOUR day baby! I’m so proud of you I feel so lucky to be by your side.”

It’s true that Yolanda Foster is a really supportive mother, and she has done a lot to raise awareness about Lyme disease. Do you think enough has been done to fight Lyme disease? Do you think enough awareness exists about the disease? If so, don’t forget to mention it in the comments down below.

It seems like Bella Hadid has her life figured out despite the hardships that she has gone through with the Lyme disease.

[Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images]