By the age of 25, Selena Gomez has just made amazing progress in various fields, first as a Disney star, at that point as a pop icon and now she’s raging into the universe of mold, and the youthful star is opening up about her opportunity in the big time and how it’s changed the way she ponders her own particular life.
“I’ve been doing it since I was seven. To be honest, I don’t think I know anything different,” Gomez told The Business of Fashion in an interview published on Monday.
Reflecting on her years as a child star on the Disney Channel series The Wizards of Waverly Place, Gomez credits her mom, Mandy Teefey, for keeping her grounded, supporting her, and never falling into the so-called “stage mom” trap.
“She was very aware, for some reason, of what could happen to me,” the actress recounted. “She always said to me that I should have fun, and if it wasn’t fun or if I wasn’t learning something or I wasn’t growing as a person, she wanted to take me out of it.”
Another turning point came when Gomez was 18 and she was working on the last season of her Disney Channel show. “I didn’t feel like it was about my art as much. I was on the fourth season of the show, and I felt like I was outgrowing it. I wanted something different and obviously, I fell in love for the first time,” Gomez said, referring to her high-profile relationship with fellow child star Justin Bieber. The pair split in 2014, and Gomez is currently in a relationship with The Weeknd.
“I have to take care of myself and not feel guilty about it. I will say no when I need to say no, and I will make sure that I will not overdo everything,” Gomez said of what she’s learned to do to maintain her work/home life balance. “[Sometimes] I feel like if I don’t accept everything that’s happening then maybe it seems like I’m ungrateful, or I’m not doing enough. [But] I just have to take care of myself.”
One of the challenges Gomez said she’s faced is finding people who she can trust and who actually care about her, which has led her to be much more selective with who she truly opens up to and considers a friend.