Hailey Bieber is speaking publicly about her postpartum experience with premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) following the August 2024 birth of her son, Jack Blues, whom she shares with her husband, Justin Bieber. The 29-year-old model and entrepreneur shared her reflections as her skincare and cosmetics company, Rhode, announced a $5 million, three-year funding commitment to the Foundation for Women’s Health. While an official announcement through the Rhode Futures Fund carries a dateline of October 30, 2026, the corporate release page from parent company e.l.f. Beauty was published on November 3, 2026, coinciding with widespread media coverage of the initiative in early November. Bieber noted that her personal health challenges after childbirth, alongside conditions affecting her family and friends, motivated the brand's largest single philanthropic grant to date.

Postpartum Reflections and the Timeline of a Diagnosis

In an interview with WWD, Bieber explained that becoming a mother shifted her perspective on medical care and highlighted how little public dialogue exists around complex hormonal and reproductive conditions.

"After I had my son, I struggled with that a bit, and there’s just not a lot of conversation or research around it," Bieber told the publication regarding her experience with PMDD.

Media accounts differ slightly on how they frame the timeline of her condition. While some outlets summarize her recent remarks as a new revelation of a postpartum diagnosis, the quoted passages in WWD focus on her stating that she struggled with the disorder after giving birth without detailing when or by whom a clinical diagnosis was made. However, reporting by NBC10 Philadelphia and Billboard notes that Bieber previously discussed the specifics of her diagnosis during a March 2025 appearance on the "SHE MD" podcast.

In that earlier discussion, Bieber stated she was diagnosed roughly six months after welcoming Jack Blues in August 2024, after noticing that the emotional lead-up to her menstrual cycle felt far more severe than the standard premenstrual syndrome (PMS) she had experienced prior to pregnancy.

Recalling those symptoms on the podcast, Bieber said, "I was like, 'This just feels way more intense than before,' like the lead-up to getting your period. You’re like, 'Why does it feel like my whole entire life is gonna end? Like, I don’t understand.' You just have all these swirling thoughts and feelings, and just everything feels like the biggest deal in the world." According to Billboard, she noted that those intense emotional symptoms began to recede once her period started and improved over time.

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, as cited by Billboard, PMDD is a severe, chronic, hormonally driven mood disorder whose symptoms emerge the week before menstruation and can include depressed mood, feelings of hopelessness, heightened anxiety, mood swings, self-critical thoughts, sudden tearfulness, irritability, and difficulty concentrating.

Data from the Office on Women’s Health cited by WLOS indicates the condition affects up to 5 percent of women of childbearing age.

Inside Rhode's $5 Million Funding Commitment

Bieber told WWD that speaking openly about her symptoms helps reduce the isolation often associated with reproductive health conditions. "When we can identify with each other and have conversations relating to each other and talking about the things we’re dealing with and struggling with, I do think it makes it feel like less of a lonely journey," she said. Beyond her own postpartum experience, she pointed to people in her immediate circle dealing with under-researched conditions, noting that her sister has polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS, formerly known as PCOS or polycystic ovary syndrome) and several of her friends deal with endometriosis.

That personal frustration directly informed the structure of the $5 million commitment from the Rhode Futures Fund to the Foundation for Women’s Health (FWH).

Rather than an unrestricted donation to individual clinicians or a fund dedicated exclusively to PMDD, the official announcement from e.l.f. Beauty frames the pledge as a three-year strategic grant aimed at closing historical gaps in medical research across the female life cycle.

There are minor variations in how the primary announcements and secondary media outlets summarize the grant's exact allocations. According to the official release and dossier records, the partnership prioritizes medical research in historically underfunded areas, specifically highlighting pregnancy and postpartum health, autoimmune conditions, and PMOS. Meanwhile, reporting from WWD and Entertainment Weekly notes that the commitment also encompasses broader public education and care initiatives, and specifies that $1 million of the $5 million total will establish the Foundation for Women’s Health Evergreen Fund.

This venture philanthropy vehicle is designed to invest in companies developing diagnostics and therapeutics for women, reinvesting any financial proceeds back into future scientific research.

Katy Brodsky Falco, founder and executive director of the Foundation for Women’s Health, stated in the e.l.f. Beauty press release that addressing overlooked medical areas requires enduring financial infrastructure. Speaking with The Independent, Falco added that the $5 million gift sends a strong message to young women that the longstanding gender equity gap in medicine is unacceptable, noting that the public visibility Rhode brings to the cause is "perhaps unparalleled."

Brand Growth Under e.l.f. Beauty

The philanthropic pledge arrives during a period of rapid commercial expansion for Rhode, which Bieber founded in 2022. According to WWD, e.l.f. Beauty acquired Rhode in 2025 in a transaction valued at up to $1 billion. In May 2026, e.l.f.

Beauty reported that Rhode had generated more than $500 million in annualized global retail sales and roughly $390 million in net sales for fiscal 2026, representing year-over-year growth of more than 80 percent.

"I could have never predicted where we were going to be today, even a year ago," Bieber told WWD, adding that the company's commercial reach has exceeded her initial expectations and enabled larger-scale commitments through the Rhode Futures Fund.

Key Questions Surrounding the Initiative

Will the $5 million grant fund PMDD research specifically, or broader conditions?

The funding is not restricted exclusively to PMDD. According to the official announcement from e.l.f. Beauty and reporting by WWD, the three-year commitment targets a wider spectrum of historically underfunded areas in women's healthcare, including pregnancy and postpartum health, autoimmune conditions, and PMOS.

How will the Evergreen Fund operate within the partnership?

Of the $5 million total pledge, $1 million is earmarked to launch the Foundation for Women’s Health Evergreen Fund. Rather than issuing traditional one-time academic grants, this fund acts as a venture philanthropy model that invests in private companies building women's health diagnostics and treatments, cycling returns back into the foundation to bankroll future research studies.

When will the research grant recipients be selected and announced?

According to reporting by WWD and Cosmopolitan, research institutions across the United States have already submitted project proposals to the Foundation for Women's Health, and the selected grantees are expected to be formally announced in 2027.

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