Gigi Hadid has spent more than a decade at the top of one of the most physically demanding industries in entertainment.
Modeling looks glamorous from the outside. Underneath the schedule is often relentless: fittings, flights, late shows, and early call times, stacked back to back for weeks at a time.
In 2014, Hadid shared something that changed how people understood her energy levels. She has Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, an autoimmune condition that affects the thyroid gland.
She has spoken about it publicly since, describing how it shapes her days in ways that have nothing to do with effort or discipline.
Her story offers a useful window into a condition that affects millions of people, most of whom never end up on a runway or in front of a camera.
Hadid began modeling as a child and signed with a major agency in 2013.
She made her New York Fashion Week debut the following year and has since walked for major luxury brands, appeared in more than fifty Vogue editorials, and built a career that keeps her on planes and under lights for much of the year.
She has also launched her own clothing line and taken on television hosting work, adding even more to an already packed schedule.
None of that changes what her body needs on a given day, which is part of why her comments about pacing herself around Hashimoto’s disease stand out.
What Hashimoto’s Disease Actually Is
Hashimoto’s thyroiditis is the most common cause of hypothyroidism in the United States, according to the American Thyroid Association.
It is an autoimmune disease. That means the immune system, which is supposed to protect the body from outside threats, mistakenly attacks the thyroid gland instead.
Over time, that attack damages the cells that produce thyroid hormone. The thyroid gland sits at the base of the neck and helps regulate metabolism, energy use, and body temperature.
When thyroid hormone production drops, nearly every system in the body can feel the effect.
Thyroid hormone helps set the pace for how quickly cells use energy, which is part of why low levels so often show up as fatigue rather than one single obvious symptom.
Doctors typically diagnose the condition through blood tests that measure thyroid stimulating hormone, free thyroid hormone levels, and specific antibodies that show the immune system is targeting the thyroid.
Early stages can produce no noticeable symptoms at all, even when those antibodies are already present in the blood.
The condition disproportionately affects women, though men can develop it too, according to Mayo Clinic.
It can appear at any age, including in children, and it often runs in families.
How It Shows Up Day to Day
Fatigue is one of the most commonly reported symptoms of Hashimoto’s disease.
Other common symptoms include weight changes, increased sensitivity to cold, dry skin, muscle weakness, joint stiffness, and difficulty concentrating.
Many of these symptoms build slowly, which can make the condition hard to recognize at first.
A person might simply feel more tired than usual for months before a diagnosis explains why.
That slow onset is part of why Hadid’s public openness about the condition has mattered to people managing it themselves.
The fatigue is real, even when it is invisible to everyone around them.
What Gigi Hadid Has Said About Managing It
Hadid has talked publicly about how living with Hashimoto’s disease means paying closer attention to her own patterns rather than pushing through every day the same way.
She has described adjusting her routine based on how she actually feels, rather than following a fixed plan regardless of her energy that day.
That kind of flexibility runs against the grain of an industry that often expects constant, high output no matter what is happening internally.
Her willingness to speak about the condition has been described as a meaningful moment for public awareness of autoimmune thyroid disease.
Chronic conditions like this one are common but rarely discussed openly by public figures with her level of visibility.
Living with a chronic condition has not meant stepping back from a demanding career for Hadid.
It has meant learning to work with her body’s patterns instead of ignoring them.
What Research Shows About Exercise and Hypothyroidism
Fatigue related to an underactive thyroid can make the idea of exercise feel counterproductive.
Research suggests the opposite may often be true, at least once thyroid hormone levels are being properly managed with a doctor’s guidance.
A 2025 interventional study published in the International Journal of Health Sciences and Research examined the effect of structured aerobic exercise on women with hypothyroidism (Satasiya & Prajapati, 2025).
The study compared a supervised aerobic exercise program against a simple walking routine over several weeks, measuring exercise capacity with a six minute walk test and quality of life with a standard health survey.
Women who completed the structured aerobic program showed significant improvements in both exercise capacity and quality of life compared to those in the walking only group.
That finding matters because it suggests physical activity is not just tolerable for people with hypothyroidism.
It may actively improve how they feel day to day, alongside proper medical treatment.
The key detail is that this research measured people whose condition was already being managed, not people attempting to exercise through an untreated or unstable thyroid problem.
What This Research Does Not Prove
One study on 70 women does not settle every question about exercise and thyroid disease.
The research does not tell us how much exercise is too much for someone in a flare or an unstable period of their condition.
It also does not address Hashimoto’s disease specifically as an autoimmune condition, since it focused on hypothyroidism broadly rather than isolating the autoimmune subtype.
Every person’s experience with thyroid disease is different, and energy levels can vary significantly from one person to the next, even with similar lab results.
That is exactly why the condition requires individualized management rather than a one size fits all fitness plan.
How This Compares to General Health Guidance
Standard treatment for Hashimoto’s disease, once it progresses to clinically low thyroid hormone levels, is daily thyroid hormone replacement medication, most often levothyroxine.
That medication is not optional or something exercise can replace. It addresses the underlying hormone deficiency directly.
General exercise guidelines still apply broadly to people with a well managed thyroid condition, including the standard recommendation of about 150 minutes of moderate activity a week.
The difference is pacing. Someone managing a chronic condition often benefits from building in flexibility, rather than treating a missed or lighter workout as a failure.
That is close to the language Hadid herself has used when describing how she approaches her own routine.
Who Should Talk to a Doctor First
Anyone with new or ongoing symptoms like unexplained fatigue, weight changes, or cold intolerance should talk to a doctor before assuming the cause or starting a new exercise plan.
Hashimoto’s disease is diagnosed through blood tests that measure thyroid hormone levels and thyroid antibodies, not through symptoms alone.
People already diagnosed with hypothyroidism should have their thyroid hormone levels checked and stabilized with their doctor before beginning a more intense exercise program.
Untreated or poorly controlled hypothyroidism can affect heart rate and cardiovascular function, which makes medical supervision especially important before increasing exercise intensity.
Anyone experiencing chest pain, irregular heartbeat, severe fatigue that does not improve with rest, or swelling in the neck should seek medical attention rather than trying to push through it.
Pregnant women with thyroid disease have additional monitoring needs and should work closely with their doctor on both treatment and activity levels.
Because thyroid hormone needs can shift over time, regular follow up bloodwork matters even for people who feel stable on their current treatment.
A Practical Approach to Exercising With a Chronic Condition
Start with medical management, not a workout plan.
Getting thyroid hormone levels into a stable range with a doctor’s help comes before any structured exercise decisions.
Once cleared for activity, build gradually rather than jumping into an intense routine right away.
The research on hypothyroidism and exercise capacity used a structured, progressive program, not an all or nothing approach.
Pay attention to your own patterns the way Hadid has described doing.
Some days will call for a full workout, and others will call for a walk or a rest day, and both are legitimate responses to a real, fluctuating condition.
Track how you feel over weeks, not single days.
A chronic condition rarely improves in a straight line, so looking at trends over time gives a more honest picture than judging any one workout.
If fatigue is a major symptom, consider building your week around a few structured sessions rather than daily high intensity training.
Our guide on unexpected weight and muscle changes covers some of the other health factors, beyond exercise alone, that can affect how your body responds during a period like this.
Consider working with a trainer who has experience with clients managing chronic health conditions.
Our guide on how to decide whether you need a personal trainer covers what to look for and how to vet someone’s experience before hiring them.
Above all, keep communication open with your doctor as your routine changes.
Thyroid hormone needs can shift with changes in activity level, weight, stress, and even the seasons, so this is not a one time conversation.
References
Satasiya, A., & Prajapati, H. (2025). Efficacy of aerobic exercise on exercise capacity and quality of life in hypothyroidism females: An interventional study. International Journal of Health Sciences and Research, 15(5), 147-154.
American Thyroid Association. Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis.
Mayo Clinic. Hashimoto’s Disease: Symptoms and Causes.
This article is for general educational purposes and is not a substitute for personalized medical advice.
Anyone with symptoms of thyroid disease, or an existing diagnosis, should work with a qualified doctor to manage treatment and any changes to their exercise routine.
