How Selena Gomez Found Meaning in Her Lupus Diagnosis, Justin Bieber Heartbreak, and More

Selena Gomez gave a very candid new interview for the Twilio SIGNAL 2023 conference yesterday where she addressed the course of her career and the role her personal struggles have played in shaping her work.

Gomez reflected poignantly on how her journey having lupus, enduring great heartbreak, and navigating her mental health had a greater purpose.

“I don’t know where I adopted the attitude, but it’s helped me feel better in life. And the following is not a pity party. It’s just how I think,” she began.

“So 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. 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 had lupus too. And that’s when I knew that that happened to me because I could do that moment,” Gomez finished, getting emotional.

She then touched on her Justin Bieber breakup—one of the most public relationships she had on-off for years—and how that pain created some of her most successful music, including her first number 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100, “Lose You to Love Me.”

“So then when I was going through a heartbreak, I immediately wrote my best music and wanted to be there for every woman or a man or whoever going through that journey,” she continued. “Then there was the kidney transplant I walked through and all these things that may seem like they could bring someone down, I try my hardest to say at least they’re not alone, and if I keep going, hopefully that means someone else can keep going because I don’t want to always do it but I want to for them more so than myself at times, but I’m a work in progress, and it’s just one day at a time.”

Later in the interview, Gomez credited therapy and not being on social for helping her with her mental health. You can watch her full conversation here.

Senior News and Strategy Editor

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.