Yolanda Hadid's Book Title is a Nod to Her Fellow Beverly Hills Housewives
The #RHOBH mom gives us a sneek peak at her new memoir.
Yolanda Hadid's battle with Lyme disease has been well documented over the last few seasons of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Now the mother of Gigi and Bella Hadid is telling all in a brand-new memoir, Believe Me: My Battle with the Invisible Disability of Lyme Disease.
Yolanda spoke to The Daily Dish about her new book, to be published by St. Martin's Press in February 2017, and why she felt it was time to write it. "Once I started to uncover the mystery of chronic Lyme disease and the stigma around it, I felt a strong sense of obligation towards the millions of people suffering from this debilitating disease to share my journey and to be a voice for those who can't be heard," she says.
The title is most certainly a nod to accusations that came up during Season 6 of RHOBH that Yolanda might have Munchausen Syndrome, a mental disorder in which someone makes others believe he or she is sick by pretending to be ill, by purposely getting sick, or through self-injury, according to the Mayo Clinic.
"I would hope that anyone who watched or knows about my journey will take the time to read Believe Me as I truly hope it will educate and open people's hearts in order to gain a much deeper respect and understanding of this journey," Yolanda says. "The message here is really about how we can learn to be less judgmental and deal with chronically ill people in a more kind, compassionate and understanding way."
Of course it is those already suffering from Lyme disease that Yolanda was thinking of when writing the book. "I have met so many debilitated and financially devastated patients, parents who've sold their homes in order to pay for their children's treatment all while fighting to keep them alive. I documented my journey with photos, daily logs, lab results and short videos, because I wasn't sure I would make it through alive, but I did. I am here to tell my story because we need a cure affordable for all."
Yolanda says the memoir will contain information on every treatment she's tried over the last five years — both the ones that helped and the ones that didn't. "I was raised to blindly trust doctors, but learned I had to be my own health advocate," she explains.
Today, Yolanda says she is feeling 75 percent better but wants to get an important message out to readers: "Take control of your life if you want the healthy and happy life you deserve to live." Watch her discuss her book further during a recent appearance on Watch What Happens Live.
