Bella Hadid Opened Up About Feeling Like "The Uglier Sister" and Regretting the Nose Job She Had at 14

Being a teenager is rough for everyone.

Bella Hadid seen attending a Burberry dinner at The Twenty Two on March 11, 2022 in London, England
(Image credit: Getty/Neil Mockford/Ricky Vigil M)

If you find Bella Hadid a little "scary," it's OK. She kind of does it on purpose—or so she said during her latest Vogue cover interview.

You see, Bella feels a great need to protect herself in an industry that could very well eat her up; fashion and fame aren't exactly known to be the most nurturing environments.

Part of her need to tread carefully may have stemmed from growing up in older sister Gigi's shadow.

"I was the uglier sister," she told Vogue. "I was the brunette. I wasn’t as cool as Gigi, not as outgoing.

"That’s really what people said about me. And unfortunately when you get told things so many times, you do just believe it. 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. I always felt like I had something to prove. 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."

To help with her confidence, Bella got a nose job at age 14. "I wish I had kept the nose of my ancestors," she revealed. "I think I would have grown into it."

With that said, her nose is the only part of herself she has permanently changed—despite the unforgiving rumor mill. "People think I fully f***ed with my face because of one picture of me as a teenager looking puffy," she said.

"I’m pretty sure you don’t look the same now as you did at 13, right? I have never used filler. Let’s just put an end to that. I have no issue with it, but it’s not for me.

"Whoever thinks I’ve gotten my eyes lifted or whatever it’s called—it’s face tape! The oldest trick in the book.

"I’ve had this impostor syndrome where people made me feel like I didn’t deserve any of this. People always have something to say, but what I have to say is, I’ve always been misunderstood in my industry and by the people around me."

Now she's speaking up, hopefully people will understand her better.

Iris Goldsztajn
Morning Editor

Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Bustle and Shape. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.