Selena Gomez made a rare remark about her love life while reflecting on channeling heartbreak into chart-topping hits, which resonate with her legions of fans.
During an interview for the Twilio SIGNAL 2023 conference earlier this week, the 31-year-old pop star reflected on penning her her first number one on the Billboard Hot 100, Lose You to Love Me.
‘When I was going through a heartbreak, I immediately, you know, wrote my best music and wanted to be there for every woman or man or whoever, you know, going through that journey,’ she said, alluding to her split from Justin Bieber.
The Rare Beauty founder and Canadian singer, 29, had an on-and-off romance between 2010 to 2018, before ultimately calling it quits just months ahead of his engagement to now-wife, Hailey Bieber.
Previously, the Only Murders in the Building star revealed their breakup was the ‘best thing that ever happened to her’ in her new Apple + documentary, My Mind & Me.
She credited their separation for forcing her to learn to ‘choose herself and choose life again.’
The split provided the inspiration for her hit 2020 song, Lose You to Love Me, with the star saying: ‘Everything was so public. I felt haunted by a past relationship that no one wanted to let go of. Then I just moved past it, and I wasn’t afraid anymore.
‘I feel like I had to go through the worst possible heartbreak ever and then just forgetting everything at the drop of the hand, it was really confusing. But I just think that needed to happen and ultimately it was the best thing that ever happened to me.’
Adding that she had written the song in just 45 minutes, she continued: ‘It’s about more than a lost love. It’s me learning to choose myself, to choose life, but also hoping that people can find grace and peace in that too.
‘The song is about knowing that you completely lost every part of who you are just to rediscover yourself again.
Selena and Justin were teenage sweethearts but had their last breakup in 2018, months before he had a courthouse marriage to Hailey.
The month after Justin married Hailey, Selena reportedly suffered a breakdown connected to her lupus and entered treatment for her mental health.
During her latest interview, Gomez opened up about being diagnosed with her autoimmune disease as a teenager.
‘When I got diagnosed with lupus, I was around 16 or 17. It was a very brutal process, and I didn’t enjoy it at all,’ she recalled. ‘But cut to a few years later, I was able to visit a child in the hospital, and they would not look at me until I said I have lupus too.’
The Wolves singer continued: ‘And that’s when I knew that that happened to me because I could do that moment.’
Even when speaking about her kidney transplant, the actress said she tries her ‘hardest to’ see these experiences as moments to remind other struggling that ‘they’re not alone.’
‘I’m a work in progress, and it’s just one day a time,’ she added.
Back in 2020, Gomez referred to herself as a ‘victim to certain abuse’ in a past relationship during an interview with NPR.
‘I’ve found the strength in it. It’s dangerous to stay in a victim mentality. And I’m not being disrespectful, I do feel I was a victim to certain abuse,’ she stated.
At the time, the performer made it clear that she was referring to emotional, not physical ‘abuse.’
Over the years, she has also been romantically linked to The Weeknd, Charlie Puth, Nick Jonas, Orlando Bloom, Niall Horan and Taylor Lautner.