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Selena Gomez has been open about her health journey, from her bipolar depression diagnosis to her receiving a kidney transplant for her lupus. But she didn’t share those stories to get pity; the actress was just trying to help others. She spoke to The Hollywood Reporter in a wide-ranging interview about why being seen as a “victim” is so upsetting to her.
That misconception “makes me so mad because it genuinely is such a strong thing to be vulnerable,” she said. “It was terrifying for me to let people inside my world that way, but I was doing it because I felt like maybe this would help someone, and that’s what I care about. I just wanted people to feel less alone, and I wanted people to understand, ‘Oh, she was literally going through a really hard time, that’s why she canceled those two tours. But that’s really cool that she wants to help other people.’ That’s all I saw this as. And people completely misunderstood what I was trying to do with it. Not everyone, just a group of people, and they love to label me as this victim. And it’s funny because the things that I walked through, I fully believe I’m one of the strongest people that I have ever known. So, yeah, that always just bothers me.”
She added that she has tried to have some sway over her public narrative. “I don’t think that I can really control it, but misinformation bothers me in every area of life,” she said. “And if it is something that I feel is so inauthentic to me, I have no problem being like, ‘This is not accurate.’ And I’ll also tell you what is.”
Gomez is also one of the 2024 ELLE Women in Hollywood. Read her December cover story here.
Alyssa Bailey is the senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). She previously held positions at InStyle and Cosmopolitan. When she’s not working, she loves running around Central Park, making people take #ootd pics of her, and exploring New York City.