Selena Gomez.Photo: Nadine Ijewere
Selena Gomezis reflecting on her early rise to the spotlight.
Speaking toVoguefor its April cover story, the star opened up about the effects that starting her career on Disney Channel had on how she thinks people sometimes perceive her.
“I still live with this haunting feeling that people still view me as this Disney girl,” the 28-year-old said.
Gomez explained that starting her career early, playing Alex Russo onWizards of Waverly Placemade her feel like she needed “to be perfect.”
“That was my job in a way—to be perfect,” she said. “You’re considered a figure kids look up to, and they take that seriously there.”
Selena Gomez.Nadine Ijewere
The singer explained that her experience as a teen on the show pushed her to become “just such a people-pleaser.”
“It seems almost impossible not to be, as a performer,” she said. “Unless you’re like… a man? Yeah.”
“I think I spent so many years just trying to say the right thing to people for the sake of keeping myself sane,” she added elsewhere.
In the interview, the singer also spoke candidly about her mental health and how she has learned to prioritize her well-being.
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“I knew I couldn’t go on unless I learned to listen to my body and mind when I really needed help,” she said, referring to going to mental health treatment centers. “Once I stopped, and accepted my vulnerability, and decided to share my story with people—that’s when I felt release,” she later added.
“I woke up one morning and looked at Instagram, like every other person, and I was done,” she said. “I was tired of reading horrible things. I was tired of seeing other people’s lives. After that decision, it was instant freedom. My life in front of me was my life, and I was present, and I could not have been more happy about it.”
Gomez also opened up about her work with uplifting undocumented voices, especially since her paternal grandparents were at one point.
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“It wasn’t for any reason that I didn’t share it before,” she said, sharing that it took them 17 years before they were able to become citizens. “It’s just that as I started to see the world for what it is, all these things started to be like light bulbs going off.”
“I remember that being such a huge deal,” she added about their legal status. “My grandpa was working construction, hiring hundreds of people, and still they were living on the edge, covering up how scary it was.”
The singer also shared that a stranger once called her dad “a wetback” while attending aShania Twainshow.
source: people.com
