From her childhood stardom to her mental and physical struggles, this is the untold truth
of Selena Gomez:
13.
The Basics
Selena Marie Gomez came into the world in Grand Prairie, Texas in July 1992.
Her father’s name is Ricardo Joel Gomez, and her mom’s name is Amanda Dawn, also
known as Mandy, Cornett.
Her mother was only sixteen years old when she was born.
Discussing her childhood, she later said, “[My mother] was really strong around me.
Having me at sixteen had to have been a big responsibility.
She gave up everything for me, had three jobs, supported me, sacrificed her life for me.”
Selena was named after the late actress and singer Selena Quintanilla-Perez, who was lost
in 1995.
Gomez was raised in a Catholic household, but her family didn’t do anything overly
traditional.
She stated, “We do everything that’s Catholic, but we don’t really have anything traditional
except [that we] go to the park and have barbeques on Sundays after church.”
Her parents got divorced when she was just five years old, and she stayed with her mom.
Selena gained a half-sister through her mother’s marriage to Brian Teefey, named Gracie Elliot,
and she got another half-sister, Victoria, via her dad’s marriage to Sara Gomez.
In 2010, Selena received her diploma through homeschooling.
Her mother was an actress, which inspired Selena to opt for a career in entertainment
at a young age.
12.
Start To Acting
Selena began acting when she was still a child.
She auditioned for numerous roles, including for Barney & Friends, which is when she met
Demi Lovato.
The two were both chosen to act in the television series in 2002.
Gomez played the role of Gianna, and it was her debut in the acting field.
Selena noted later on, “I was very shy when I was little…
I didn’t know what ‘camera right’ was.
I didn’t know what blocking was.
I learned everything from Barney.”
She portrayed her character for a total of thirteen episodes of the famous show in two
years.
But, Selena was ultimately let go because she was “too old” to continue.
11.
Disney Channel
Even though Selena had to move on from Barney & Friends, she found work on the Disney Channel.
In 2007, she got the recurring role of Mikayla on Hannah Montana alongside Miley Cyrus.
While she was working on this series, she also appeared the television films Arwin!
and What’s Stevie Thinking?.
Selena then auditioned for the Disney Channel series Wizards of Waverly Place and got the
starring role of Alex Russo.
After she was picked for the character, she and her mom moved to Los Angeles, California.
In the new magical show, she played a teenage girl who is a member of a wizard-filled family
that had a seemingly-ordinary restaurant in New York.
Selena gained a significant amount of recognition through this role, which moved her into the
Hollywood spotlight.
She even recorded the series’ theme song, “Everything is Not What It Seems.”
10.
Musical Beginnings
Perhaps Selena Gomez is most well-known for her musical career, which began while she
was still working for Disney.
She assisted with a cover of “Cruella de Ville” for the DisneyMania 6 album and recorded
a song for the Tinker Bell movie called “Fly to Your Heart.”
Selena also did three songs for Another Cinderella Story, in which she starred, including “Tell
Me Something I Don’t Know.”
When she turned sixteen years old, she signed a contract with Hollywood Records.
She then recorded a song with Demi Lovato for the television movie Princess Protection
Program, which came out in 2009, titled “One and the Same.”
That same year, Gomez formed the group Selena Gomez & the Scene via Hollywood Records.
Their debut album came out in August 2009 and sold sixty-six thousand copies in its
first week.
In 2010, her band’s second record came out, called A Year Without Rain.
9.
Solo
Although Selena initially announced that she would be taking a break from pursuing her
musical career in 2012, she noted in October of that year that she was working on some
new stuff.
She released the song “Come & Get It” as the single for her debut solo album, Stars
Dance, which came out in July 2013.
It became number one on the Billboard Hot 200 right away and sold almost one hundred
thousand copies in the first week.
After signing with Interscope Records in 2014, Selena began working on her second album the
next year.
During that time, she and Zedd collaborated for the song “I Want You to Know.”
Later that year, she released “Good for You” as the first single off her new record,
which sold almost one hundred eighty thousand copies during the first week it was out.
Then, Selena dropped Revival in October 2015 and put out “Same Old Love” as the album’s
second single.
The third single was “Hands to Myself.”
All three were at the top of the charts.
In 2016, she and Charlie Puth put out the song “We Don’t Talk Anymore,” which
also reached the United States top ten.
Gomez has been working on her third album since 2016, but it hasn’t been titled or
released to date.
In 2017, she released the single “It Ain’t Me” along with Kygo.
More recently, she put out the song “Back to You.”
8.
Pets
Selena Gomez is well-known for her kind heart, which she has shown partly by rescuing animals.
She loves dogs and decided to adopt, not shop - an excellent choice for anybody out there!
But, she didn't stop at one.
This talented singer has numerous pups.
Her first one’s name is Wallace; he had parvo, a disease that can be fatal, when she
first got him.
But, he overcame the illness with Selena’s help.
Her second dog’s name is Fina, who was discovered alone in a parking lot by Gomez’s mother.
Apparently, Fina refuses to go to sleep without a special blankie and pillow and is nicknamed
‘Diva’ because of it.
Selena’s third pooch is Chazz, who once appeared in Wizards of Waverly Place with
his now-owner.
The fourth is Baylor, a husky mix who she adopted while in Canada with her ex-boyfriend,
Justin Bieber.
Number five’s name is Chip, who Selena also got from a shelter.
Lastly, she has Willie, a Labrador retriever that was left when his previous owners moved.
7.
90 Voices
You probably know that Selena Gomez has been in several animated films, one of which was
Horton Hears a Who in 2008.
But, do you know how many voices she did in the movie?
Well, you probably wouldn’t have guessed ninety!
That’s right.
Gomez voiced ninety characters.
She played the parts of the Mayor of Whoville’s daughters… and he, apparently, had a lot
of kids.
Selena spoke about the task, stating, “I voiced all of them.
I had to change up my voice to do higher voices, and then bring it down to do lower voices.
All of the Mayor’s daughters look different, so I play many different characters…
I had never done animation, so I thought it would be cool to try something different.”
6.
Films
In addition to her ninety roles in Horton Hears a Who, Selena Gomez has been in several
other features.
In 2011, she starred in Monte Carlo with Leighton Meester and Katie Cassidy.
The movie follows three friends who go on vacation to Paris; but, when Selena’s character
is mistaken for royalty, they’re taken to Monte Carlo.
Gomez also played the part of Faith in 2013’s Spring Breakers with James Franco; the movie
is a crime and drama film about four girls in college that rob a restaurant to pay for
their spring break shenanigans.
They find themselves in jail shortly after but get bailed out by a dealer… quite a
change from Gomez’s previous work.
Selena also voiced Mavis in the Hotel Transylvania animated film series and acted in Getaway
alongside Ethan Hawke and Jon Voight in 2013.
In 2016, she got the role of the Phi Lambda President in Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising.
That same year, she portrayed Lisa in the drama film In Dubious Battle with Nat Wolff
and James Franco.
5.
Relationships
You’ve probably heard about Selena Gomez’s ex-boyfriends, but let’s take a look back
at her relationships with these fellow stars.
She and Justin Bieber went public with their romance in 2011 at the Vanity Fair Oscars
Party.
In late 2011, Bieber even rented the Staples Center to have a candlelit dinner with Selena
on the basketball court…
the two also watched Titanic after their meal.
A year later, Gomez broke up with the Biebs due to distance and trust problems.
But, in 2013, rumors began circulating that they were back together.
Even though they were seen getting up close and comfortable during this time, they didn’t
actually start dating again until September 2014.
Just a couple of months later, Selena and Justin called it quits again.
In March 2015, she dated Zedd for a short time.
There wasn’t much news about her love life until she began seeing The Weeknd at the beginning
of 2017.
But, these two split up in October, and Selena was seen once again with Justin.
After a very on-again-off-again relationship, the duo seemed to be keeping their distance
in March 2018 and officially broke-up in May.
4.
Lupus
One of the most challenging things Selena Gomez has dealt with during her life is lupus.
For those who don’t know, lupus is classified as a “chronic autoimmune disease.”
It can affect any part of a person’s body, including their organs, joints, and skin.
The illness causes problems with the immune system, which makes it harder for the body
to ward off various ailments, like the flu virus.
Selena had been dealing with the disorder for a few years and was experiencing various
symptoms, such as anxiety, panic attacks, fevers, and tiredness.
She even canceled portions of a couple of her tours to deal with these issues.
Then, she began receiving kidney tests which eventually showed that she had lupus nephritis,
meaning it was affecting her kidneys.
So, she was told she needed a transplant.
Luckily for the singer, her best friend, Francia Raisa, decided to donate her kidney to save
Selena’s life.
The star later stated, “...it got to a point where it was life-or-death.
Thankfully, one of my best friends gave me her kidney and it was the ultimate gift of
life.
And I am doing quite well now.”
She added, “Not everyone is lucky enough to have a donor, and something as monumental
as an organ transplant shouldn’t be the best treatment option available.”
3.
Charities
In addition to speaking out about lupus and trying to raise awareness about the disease,
Selena Gomez participates in a lot of other charity work.
In 2008, she volunteered for St. Jude’s “Runway For Life” fundraiser and became
UNICEF’s spokeswoman for their Trick-or-Treat campaign that year and the next.
At seventeen years old, Selena became the youngest ambassador for UNICEF in 2009.
She became their spokesperson once again in 2010.
Selena is also a part of RAISE Hope For Congo and has helped Island Dog in Puerto Rico,
“Disney’s Friends for Change,” and the Ryan Seacrest Foundation.
The “Good For You” singer also spoke out about safe driving in State Farm Insurance
commercials.
Gomez also participated in WE Day in Los Angeles, California in April 2018 and introduced a
young girl who had an uncommon kidney disease.
2.
13 Reasons Why
More recently, Selena has received a lot of recognition for the Netflix series 13 Reasons
Why.
Originally, she was supposed to star in the lead role as Hannah Baker for a film based
on the novel.
However, they ultimately decided to make it a show instead.
Nevertheless, she played a large part in its making as one of the executive producers.
For those who haven’t seen it, 13 Reasons Why deals with some serious issues, including
self-harm and bullying in school.
So, it received some backlash after people watched through to the end of the first season.
But, Gomez noted that they “stayed very true to the book.”
She added, “That’s initially what Jay Asher [the author] created, was a beautifully
tragic, complicated, suspenseful story, and I think that’s what we wanted to do; we
wanted to do it justice.”
1.
Breakdown & Bieber
The most recent news surrounding Selena Gomez is her emotional breakdown.
She checked herself into a treatment facility for mental health in October 2018.
A close source to Selena told US Weekly, “[She] is resting.
It had been a couple tough weeks leading up to this.
She is definitely improving every day.
She wants to better herself every day.
That’s her priority.”
Part of the reason she had an emotional break is due to her ex, Justin Bieber, and his new
wife, Hailey Baldwin.
A source of Justin’s stated to Life & Style, “Deep down, Justin knows [Selena] still
has feelings for him and that his marriage to Hailey would’ve upset her.”
He was recently spotted crying in the car with his wife and, allegedly, “won’t stop
blaming himself for her breakdown.”
Apparently, he and Hailey have even started seeing a marriage counselor, which is really
early in their relationship.
But, it wasn’t all because of Justin’s relationship.
Selena was experiencing low white blood cell counts and had to go to the hospital; it was
during this visit that she broke down.
The issue could be due to her kidney transplant.
Let’s wish the best for this young star!