Gigi Hadid has been spreading awareness about Hashimoto’s disease. In a conversation with Elle Magazine, she revealed, “My metabolism actually changed like crazy this year. I have Hashimoto’s disease.”
She further noted, “It’s a thyroid disease and it’s now been two years since taking the medication for it, so for the Victoria’s Secret show I didn’t want to lose any more weight, I just want to have muscles in the right place and if my butt can get a little perkier, then that’s good”. In the same interview, she also discussed how cruel people became over her body changes and that she screams into a pillow to release some tension – a trick she says she picked up from her mum.
She added, “Literally, screaming into a pillow helps. One time I was on set for a beach shoot and my mum said, ‘Go scream into the ocean. It relieves the tension'”.
For the unversed, Hashimoto’s disease is when your immune system starts attacking your thyroid gland, causing it to swell and become damaged. The thyroid gland is found in the neck and it controls the body’s growth, metabolism and the hormonal cycle. According to the NHS, people who suffer from Hashimoto’s disease will have symptoms of an underactive thyroid gland, which can include fatigue, weight gain, constipation, dry skin and depression.
In some cases, the swollen thyroid gland may also cause a lump to form in your throat, known as a goitre. There is no known cause for Hashimoto’s disease, but it sometimes appears to run in families.
Hashimoto’s thyroiditis can’t be cured, but the symptoms are often easily treated with a thyroid hormone replacement medication, which is usually taken for life.