Selena Gomez: An Artist Determined to Healing

 

“When am I gonna be good just by myself, not needing anyone to be associated with?” asked the former Disney child star. Whenever you hear the name ‘Selena Gomez’, the first thing which comes to your mind is Justin Bieber. WHY? Isn’t she more than that? Why should a woman be constantly haunted by her past? From living in a sad girl world to no more in a sad girl world let’s look at her life which shows her courage, sufferings, trauma, mental and physical pain and how she overcame these hurdles in her way of becoming a star American singer, actress, film producer and entrepreneur inspiring millions of people even today.

 EARLY LIFE

 Named            after the Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla-Perez,Selena Marie Gomez was born on July 22,1992 in Grand prairie, Texas. Her first acting role was 'Gianna' in 90s children television show Barney and friends(2002). After getting a role in spy kids-3D game over(2003), she auditioned for the Disney channel.

 BREAKTHROUGH

 At the age of 12, she got a lead role of Alex Russo, a tomboy with magical powers, in 'The Wizards of Waverly place' (2007-2012).Gomez  also voiced the character of Mavis in hotel Transylvania.She gave voice for the animated feature ‘Hoton hears a who!’(2008) and also acted in the following:‘Ramona and Beezus’(2010), ‘Monte Carlo’, (2011)  ‘Spring   breakers’(2012) ‘Rudderless’ (2014). She returned to TV for ‘Only murders in the building’(2021-).

 MUSIC

 Selena entered into the music industry through Selena and the scene which is a pop band that released albums including ‘kiss and tell’(2009), ‘a year without rain’(2010)  and  ‘when  the  sun goes down’(2011). The band got separated in 2012. She started her  solo  in  ‘stars  dance’(2013), ‘revival’(2015)  and  ‘rare’(2020) which includes the hit "Loss you to love me" which she wrote in about 45 minutes along with Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter where she chooses her and discovered self-love after an end to her on-off relationship with Bieber for the good. In her own words, “This song was inspired by many things that have happened in my life since releasing my last album. I want people to feel hope and to know you will come out the other side stronger and a better version of yourself”.

“Who says” is an inspirational song against cyber bullying is an evergreen song of hers.

 PRODUCTION

Netflix series ‘13 reasons Why?’ Is her most notable producing credit. She filmed and produced a cooking show Selena + Chef which is about the journey of learning cooking in quarantine. She is also nominated for Emmy awards for her production of ‘Only murders in the building’ in 2022.

If you think that a celebrity is immune to physical and mental struggles then you are wrong. Take a look at these trials and tribulations which she encountered.

If you think that a celebrity is immune to physical and mental struggles then you are wrong. Take a look at these trials and tribulations which  she encountered it.

LUPUS

Lupus is  an  autoimmune disease. The symptoms are fatigue, swollen or painful joints and skin irritation or rashes around hands, wrists or face. The cure to this disease has not been found yet. It can only be suppressed.

Gomez revealed her Lupus diagnosis in a 2015 Billboard article. In 2017, she had a kidney transplant from her friend Francia Raisa, as she had lupus nephritis. It gave her side effects such as depression, anxiety and panic attacks. In 2015, she told Billboard that she has been through chemotherapy. IN 2020 pandemic, it gave her excruciating pain. But still she managed her illness. Her secret in managing her disease were regular exercise, eating a healthy diet, and avoiding smoking. She gave hope and courage to millions of people suffering from autoimmune diseases by setting her life as an example.

PSYCHOTIC BREAK            

  It is a combination of symptoms which results in impaired relationship with reality. Simply put, losing the ability to realize what’s real and not. Its symptoms can vary from person to person. Since it is associated with stigma it prevents people from getting help.

 In 2016, she embarked on her world tour to promote her album, Revival. She struggled with psychosis and at one point she told her former assistant Theresa Mingus that she didn’t want to be alive right now and they had to cancel the tour after 55 performances. It didn’t end there. In 2018 she had another episode of psychosis. She had hallucinations and  loud voices. Sometimes she wouldn’t be able to sleep for days and didn’t want to talk to anyone. This led to the diagnosis of Bipolar disorder. She didn’t want to go to a mental hospital but she didn’t want to be trapped inside her mind.

 BIPOLAR DISORDER

 She decided to make her diagnosis public. But she is warned by her team not to as it may end up different from what she intended. After that she was on medication which made her feel like she lost some part of hers. Recently, she addressed that bipolar medication may prevent from carrying her own children, however she meant to have them.

BODY IMAGE ISSUES

Lupus affected her by causing fluctuations in weight. She noticed people attacking her for her weight. Due to impossibly high standards and filtered photos of celebrities, many people get insecure and Gomez is one of them too. Her advice to young people is “Be honest. Be very intentional at what you’re  paying  attention to. Try to  remove  yourself  from images that 99.9% of the time aren’t real.”

I don’t want to see your bodies on Instagram; I  want  to see what’s in here(gesturing a hand at heart)” she told the audience at the American Music Awards.

The singer made a clip on Tik Tok in which she wrote, “I am perfect the way I am.”

 ENTREPRENEURSHIP

 Dream Out Loud:

 Her entrepreneurial ventures include her own clothing line teamed up with Tony Mellilo and Sandra Campos called Dream Out Loud launched in the fall of 2010.The fabrics are eco-friendly and organic. Also, the tags will have inspirational quotes on them.

Rare Beauty:

Her beauty brand, ‘rare beauty is about being who you are and embracing our uniqueness as Selena believes that everyone is rare and unique. Also, it is vegan and cruelty free.

 WONDERMIND

 Daniella Pierson, Mandy Teefay (Selena’s mother) and Gomez launched Wondermind, a mental health startup going after the obstacle: stigma. The goal is to normalize mental health. It will have podcasts, daily articles with tips followed with a line of innovative tools for mental fitness. It reached a $100M valuation this year after series A funding.

 PHILANTHROPY

Gomez became the youngest UNICEF ambassador ever at the age of 17 in 2008. She is the ambassador of DoSomething.org. She is also involved with the charity RAISE Hope for Congo. In 2009, she made a surprise visit to an elementary school as a part of a “A day made better” during which she gave school supplies and talked about the importance of giving back to society. Gomez was named ambassador of the Ryan Seacrest Foundation.

  RARE IMPACT FUND

In 2020, she launched the Rare impact fund which will raise $100M over the next 10 years to help combat mental illness for the underserved communities. One percent of all sales from rare beauty products will be used for this purpose.

 MY MIND AND ME

She collaborated with Alek Keshishian to make a new documentary Selena Gomez my mind and me which is a six year span documentary debuted on November 4,2022 on Apple TV + and

 Unlike any other celebrity documentary, it showed the world she is too human with millions of emotions and problems as any others in the world. It highlighted how fame took a toll on her mental health.

 The goal of her releasing this documentary was to show the people that mental illness can affect anyone and to remove the stigma associated with it so that people can normalize it and get healed. Through her documentary she shared how child actors are looked at and treated and how it contributed to her depression.

 Her journey doesn’t end here. As it is stated by her that she is still trying to make music. The singer recently turned 30 and she gave herself a wedding themed party as she thought she would be married by now.

Written by:

Bhavleen Kaur, Sethi, staff writer