"I always ask myself, how did a girl with incredible insecurities, anxiety, depression, body-image issues, eating issues, who hates to be touched, who has intense social anxiety, what was I doing getting into this business? But over the years I became a good actress. I put on a very smiley face, or a very strong face.": Bella Hadid

The world sees a supermodel walking the runway in perfect stride. But behind those sharp cheekbones and controlled expressions lives a woman who has spent her entire life feeling fundamentally different. And wrestling with whether that's a curse or a gift.

Bella Hadid's story isn't about glamour. It's about a young girl who gave up her Olympic dreams to chronic illness, felt like "the uglier sister" in her famous family, and has battled depression so consuming she describes it as "paralyzing" and "invisible to the outside world."

What drives someone to reach the pinnacle of their industry while privately questioning their very identity? The answer lies in understanding her Enneagram Type 4 personality.

TL;DR: Why Bella Hadid is an Enneagram Type 4
  • Identity Crisis at Her Core: Grew up feeling like "the uglier sister, the brunette, not as cool as Gigi": the classic Type 4 wound of feeling fundamentally deficient compared to others.
  • Authenticity Over Image: Despite modeling's pressure for perfection, she openly discusses depression, anxiety, Lyme disease, and regrets about her nose job, refusing to maintain a false façade.
  • The Lost Dream: Gave up her Olympic equestrian ambitions due to Lyme disease, Type 4s carry deep grief over unrealized potential and paths not taken.
  • Heritage Longing: Regrets getting a nose job at 14, saying "I wish I had kept the nose of my ancestors", Type 4s mourn lost connections to authentic identity.
  • Creative Expression as Healing: Founded Orebella fragrance brand as a way to express her unique vision and channel her wellness journey into something meaningful.

What is Bella Hadid's Personality Type?

Bella Hadid is an Enneagram Type 4 (The Individualist)

Type 4s are the identity-seekers of the Enneagram. They're driven by a core need to be unique, authentic, and deeply understood, while simultaneously feeling like something essential is missing that others seem to possess naturally.

For Bella, this pattern has been painfully visible throughout her public life. "I was the uglier sister. I was the brunette. I wasn't as cool as Gigi, not as outgoing," she told Vogue. "That's really what people said about me. And unfortunately when you get told things so many times, you do just believe it."

This isn't just celebrity insecurity. It's the Type 4's fundamental wound: the sense of being inherently different, somehow lacking what others have, constantly comparing their inner emotional reality to others' polished exteriors.

Type 4s don't just feel emotions: they live inside them. Bella's description of her mental health struggles reveals this intensity, similar to fellow Type 4 Billie Eilish, who has also spoken openly about depression: "Something I've carried for many years is the weight of anxiety and depression. It can sometimes feel all-consuming, paralyzing, and invisible to the outside world, leaving you in tears before starting your day."

The "invisibility" she describes is crucial. Type 4s often feel profoundly misunderstood: their rich inner world seems impossible to communicate to others who appear to navigate life more effortlessly.

Growing Up Hadid: A Type 4's Formative Years

Isabella Khair Hadid was born October 9, 1996, in Washington, D.C., to Mohamed Hadid, a Palestinian-American real estate developer, and Yolanda Hadid, a Dutch former model who would later become a Real Housewives star.

The family relocated to a horse ranch in Santa Barbara, California, where Bella's childhood became intertwined with the equestrian world. She began riding at age three, and horses became her first true passion, a place where the "different" girl felt at home.

But even in this seemingly privileged environment, the Type 4 identity struggle was brewing.

Her parents divorced when she was six. The family dynamics shifted. And Bella began comparing herself to her older sister Gigi, who seemed to possess the ease and confidence that felt so foreign to Bella's experience.

"My close friends from high school keep me grounded – they don't care about what I do," Bella has said. "I'm still the same person I was, and I try hard not to change." This determination to maintain connection to her "real" self is classic Type 4.

Then came the diagnosis that would reshape everything.

The Dream That Died: Olympic Aspirations and Lyme Disease

At fifteen, Bella Hadid was training for the Olympics.

She competed nationally in equestrian, achieving impressive rankings in Equitation Over Fences. Her last recorded competitions with the United States Hunter Jumper Association were at prestigious events like the Los Angeles International Jumping Festival.

Then Lyme disease struck. Not just her, but also her mother Yolanda and brother Anwar, all diagnosed in 2012.

For Bella, the symptoms were devastating: brain fog, anxiety, exhaustion, joint pain. Her mother later wrote: "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. This was the biggest heartbreak of her life and an extremely sensitive subject for her."

For a Type 4, losing an identity-defining pursuit is catastrophic. They don't just lose an activity: they lose a piece of who they believed they were.

"Lots of anxiety comes from feeling like I missed out on so much from being sick & depressed constantly, so young, while trying to put on a 'happy face,'" Bella shared on World Mental Health Day 2024.

This FOMO isn't about parties missed. It's about a Type 4's grief over the self they might have been.

Rise to Fame: The Unlikely Supermodel

In 2014, at eighteen, Bella moved to New York to study photography at Parsons School of Design. But modeling had other plans.

She signed with IMG Models and quickly found herself walking for Desmond and Dales in her New York Fashion Week debut. Within two years, she was a Victoria's Secret Angel, Dior Beauty ambassador, and named "Model of the Year" by Models.com, joining the elite ranks alongside peers like Hailey Bieber.

The irony wasn't lost on her. The girl who felt like the "uglier sister" was now being celebrated for her beauty by the entire fashion industry.

"I always felt like I had something to prove," Bella admitted. "People can say anything about how I look, about how I talk, about how I act. But in seven years I never missed a job, canceled a job, was late to a job. No one can ever say that I don't work my ass off."

This work ethic reveals Type 4's integration toward Type 1, channeling emotional intensity into discipline and integrity. When healthy, Type 4s become remarkably principled and hardworking.

By 2022, she had won Model of the Year from the British Fashion Council. In 2023, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world. She became one of the highest-paid models globally, earning $19 million that year.

But the external validation never fully healed the internal wound.

The Psychology Behind the Perfect Face

The Nose Job She Can't Forget

In 2022, Bella made a confession that shocked the fashion world: she'd had a nose job at fourteen.

"I wish I had kept the nose of my ancestors," she told Vogue. "I think I would have grown into it."

This regret goes deeper than aesthetics. As someone of Palestinian descent, Bella's nose connected her to her heritage, to her father's family who fled Nazareth when he was a baby, to a lineage she'll never know she could have resembled.

For a Type 4, identity is everything. And she had surgically altered a piece of her authentic self before she even knew who that self was.

"I have never used filler," she clarified. "Let's just put an end to that. Whoever thinks I've gotten my eyes lifted or whatever it's called. It's face tape! The oldest trick in the book."

The distinction matters to her. One decision at fourteen haunts her. The assumption that she's surgically manufactured feels like a denial of the authentic self she's worked so hard to reclaim.

The Alter Ego and Social Anxiety

"I have insane social anxiety!" Bella has explained. "Partying is not my thing, but I felt enormous pressure to project that image because I assumed that's all people wanted from me."

This is the Type 4 paradox: desperate to be seen for who they truly are, yet assuming no one would want to see that person.

"I'm not trying to be this cool girl," she's said. "If you're trying to be something you're not, it's slowly going to bite you in the butt."

She's admitted to needing an "alter ego" to function in her career, becoming "a good actress" who could perform confidence while crumbling inside.

Type 4s often develop these personas. They're not lying; they're surviving. The real self feels too raw, too different, too vulnerable to expose in a world that seems to reward conformity.

The Weeknd Years: Love, Loss, and Public Heartbreak

In 2015, Bella met Abel Tesfaye, The Weeknd, at Coachella. What followed was a four-year, on-again-off-again relationship that played out under constant public scrutiny.

They made their red carpet debut at the 2016 Grammys. They broke up that November due to demanding schedules. Then The Weeknd began dating Selena Gomez, and Bella promptly unfollowed Gomez on Instagram.

"It was my first breakup. And so public," Bella told Teen Vogue. "As an outsider, you might think I handled it so well, but it's always in your heart, and you always feel it very heavily. It'll be hard for a while. Love hurts, but you have to pull through."

They reconciled in 2018, only to split again in August 2019. Sources said they were "in different places... physically and mentally."

For a Type 4, breakups aren't just endings: they're identity losses. Who am I without this person who finally seemed to understand me? The public nature of Bella's heartbreak made the Type 4's characteristic feeling of being misunderstood even more acute.

Palestinian Roots and Principled Controversy

Bella Hadid has never shied away from her Palestinian heritage, even when it cost her professionally.

Her father Mohamed was born in Nazareth before his family became refugees. This history isn't abstract to Bella; it's part of her identity story.

In 2021, she marched in New York pro-Palestine protests wearing a keffiyeh. Israel's official Twitter account falsely accused her of advocating to "throw Jews into the sea." She was harassed, received death threats daily, and had her phone number leaked.

In 2024, Adidas dropped her from a campaign referencing the 1972 Munich Olympics after backlash from Israel. Bella apologized for any unintended associations, clarifying she "would never knowingly engage with any art or work that is linked to a horrific tragedy of any kind."

She and sister Gigi donated $1 million to Palestinian humanitarian relief in 2024.

"I've been sent hundreds of death threats daily, my phone number has been leaked, and my family has felt to be in danger," Bella shared.

Why risk so much? For a Type 4, authentic self-expression trumps safety. Her Palestinian identity isn't a political position. It's who she is. Suppressing it would feel like another form of the identity erasure she's fought against her whole life.

The Cowboy and the Comeback: Finding Home in Texas

In October 2023, something shifted.

Bella was at a horse show in Texas, returning to the equestrian world that illness had stolen from her, when she spotted Adan Banuelos. "I saw him walk in and it was like a gust of fresh air," she told British Vogue. "I was getting a cowboy hat fitted. I just saw him and I was like that's the... I always wanted the cowboy."

Banuelos is one of the most accomplished cutting horse riders in America, inducted into the National Cutting Horse Association Riders Hall of Fame at just 28. His father was the first Mexican-American ever inducted into that same Hall of Fame.

What sealed it for Bella? "I never knew who you were until I saw your face for the first time," he told her.

For a woman who has felt defined, judged, and categorized by her fame and face her entire career, being seen as a stranger was the greatest gift.

They went Instagram official on Valentine's Day 2024. By December 2024, Bella had been named the NCHA's Limited Age Event Rookie of the Year, returning to competitive riding nearly a decade after Lyme disease forced her to stop.

"Family is on my mind," she admitted to British Vogue. "I can't wait to be a mom... I never grew up being like, 'Oh, I have this vision of marriage.' I have this vision of being a mother."

The girl who lost her Olympic dreams on horseback has found her way back to the barn. And to someone who sees her, not her image.

Orebella: Building Something From the Ashes

In May 2024, Bella launched Orebella, her fragrance brand. But this wasn't another celebrity cash grab.

The name comes from her Arabic family name, which translates to "iron ore." It's pronounced "aura-bella", identity literally embedded in the brand.

Every decision reflects her health journey. Orebella is the first nonalcoholic biphase perfume. The formulas are dermatologist-tested, sensitive-skin friendly, and formulated without the chemicals that can trigger reactions in people with conditions like Lyme disease.

"I wanted to bring something to market that people hadn't seen before," Bella explained.

The three launch fragrances, Window2Soul, Salted Muse, and Blooming Fire, are designed to evoke emotional and healing experiences. For a Type 4, fragrance isn't just scent; it's a medium for expressing the inner world.

By late 2025, Orebella had expanded internationally to Selfridges, Mexico, and the Middle East through Ulta Beauty. Backed by Celebrands (the firm behind Halsey's About-Face line), it's become one of the standout celebrity beauty brands of its era.

The Current Chapter: December 2025

As of this writing, Bella has returned to both the runway and the rodeo.

In February 2025, she closed the Saint Laurent A/W show, her official return to high fashion after stepping back for health reasons.

She's been cheering on Adan at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. In early December, she appeared at a Dallas pop-up for Orebella at Tecovas, a Western apparel store, far from the Paris runways that made her famous.

Her recent social media reflects a woman in transition: ranch life, horses, wellness content, and the occasional throwback to her modeling glory days. The performative party girl is gone; in her place, someone who seems genuinely at peace with being exactly who she is.

"All I do in my personal life is literally make sure my mental state stays afloat," she's admitted. "Fashion can destroy you... When you are forced to be perfect every day, in every picture, you start to look at yourself and need to see perfection at all times, and it's just not possible."

The Essence of Bella Hadid: Beyond the Image

What makes Bella Hadid's story compelling isn't the Victoria's Secret wings or Vogue covers. It's the brutal honesty about what it cost her to wear them.

She's a Type 4 who achieved exactly what she thought would fill the void, fame, beauty, validation. And found the void still there. So she's doing the harder work: building an authentic life rather than a perfect image.

Her arc from Olympic hopeful to supermodel to cowgirl entrepreneur isn't random. It's a Type 4's journey toward integration: channeling the intensity that once fueled self-destruction into creative expression and genuine connection.

"I don't walk down the street like, 'I'm famous,'" she's said. "It's still weird to me when people ask for pictures."

Maybe that's the most Type 4 thing of all. The hunger for recognition paired with discomfort when it arrives. The longing to be seen paired with fear of what people will find.

Bella Hadid didn't become a supermodel because she felt beautiful. She became one while feeling fundamentally different from everyone around her. And learned to make that difference her power.

What parts of yourself have you tried to hide that might actually be your greatest strength?

Disclaimer This analysis of Bella Hadid's Enneagram type is speculative, based on publicly available information, and may not reflect the actual personality type of Bella Hadid.